Alexander Skarsgård, Nicholas Braun, French actor Liliane Rovère and others have joined the cast for Season 53 of “Documentary Now!,” IFC announced Friday. The channel also released a first look teaser as well as final details for two new episodes to round out the season.
Known for paying homage to the world of documentaries, “Documentary Now!” Season 53 will debut with on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at 10 p.m. on IFC and on AMC+ the same day. New episodes will debut weekly on Wednesdays.
The two-part season premiere episode “Soldier of Illusion,” written by John Mulaney and starring Skarsgård, Braun and August Diehl, was inspired by the Werner Herzog-focused documentary “Burden of Dreams.” Set in the early 1980s, the episode follows a visionary German filmmaker (Skarsgård) as he tries to will his magnum opus into existence while working in the remote, punishing conditions of the Russian Ular mountains. Kevin Bishop, Gana Bayarsaikhan, Matthias Rimpler, and Fred Armisen will also star, with “Documentary Now!” ensemble alumni Deb Hiett returning as narrator.
“Trouver Frisson,” which pays tribute to the films of Agnes Varda, stars Rovère and Ronald Guttman. Inspired by Varda’s “Gleaners and I” and “Beaches of Agnes,” the episode features Rovère as a celebrated French filmmaker named Ida Leos as she searches for why she no longer experiences “frisson” – the goosebumps that have always been her guide. Written by series producers Matt Pacult and Tamsin Rawady and co-directed by Micah Gardner, the episode also stars “Documentary Now!” alumni Gary Kraus.
The two newly announced installments join previously announced episodes “Two Hairdressers in Bagglyport,” “How They Threw Rocks” and “My Monkey Grifter.” The upcoming season of the acclaimed comedy — co-created by Armisen, Bill Hader, Seth Meyers and Rhys Thomas — is executive produced by Lorne Michaels and produced by Broadway Video.
Watch the full teaser trailer below.
Also in today’s TV news:
CASTING
Rosanna Arquette has joined “Big Sky: Deadly Trails” as a recurring cast member in the show’s third season. According to the ABC press release: “She is set to play Virginia ‘Gigi’ Cessna, Jenny’s (Katheryn Winnick) charismatic and fast-talking mother. She’s a world-class scam artist who used childhood Jenny in her grifts, much to present-day Jenny’s resentment. Gigi has an uncanny ability to charm her way into people’s lives and then disappear without a trace. When she returns to Helena to pull her latest con, Jenny catches onto her and mother-daughter must work through their difficult relationship. Most recently Rosanna finished shooting a fun cameo in the Seth Rogen project, ‘LG Series’ for Peacock directed by Jason Woliner. She also did Jason Bateman’s ‘Florida Man,’ where she played Abbey Lee’s mother and she was invited back to reprise her role with another arc of episodes on the Showtime series ‘The L Word.’”
