Hulu's New Remake Of Jim Carrey's 30-Year-Old Cult Classic Gets Glowing Early Review

EXCLUSIVE: New Girl vet Jake Johnson teases the current progress of Hulu’s upcoming remake of The Cable Guy, which serves as his latest comedy series after Apple TV’s Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed.

On June 5, 2026, Hulu officially granted the pilot order for an untitled comedy series, inspired by the cult classic movie The Cable Guy. In the 1996 film, Jim Carrey played one of his most iconic characters in the form of a weird cable installer who suddenly intrudes on the life of one of his clients. Johnson will be leading the pilot along with New Girl co-star Damon Wayans Jr. Both of them are also serving as executive producers. More than four months after the Hulu remake was announced, Johnson has finally shared some new details about his The Cable Guy TV remake.

In an interview with ScreenRant's Tatiana Hullender for Wildwood, Johnson opened up about the Hulu remake, confirming that they have already filmed the pilot with Portlandia creator Jonathan Krisel directing it. According to Johnson, he has been a long-time fan of Krisel, who's best known for his work on FX shows Baskets and English Teacher. Johnson also expressed his excitement for the untitled Cable Guy project, describing it as “so funny,” while teasing the audience to expect "genuinely good acting" from Wayans Jr.

Jake Johnson: “Well, [when you can expect it] is going to be up to Hulu. They have it right now, Krisel directed it, who I’ve been a fan of — speaking of Portland [Wildwood’s setting] — he did all of the Portlandias with Carrie [Brownstein] and Fred [Armisen]. I’d wanted to work with him for a long time as a director, he’s so good, [as well as being] a writer. The pilot is so funny, written by New Girl writers and Cobra Kai writers, it’s with Damon Wayans Jr. and myself. Damon does some of his best acting. He’s one of my favorite humans, but he’s genuinely also got good acting in this, and so I just love it, I hope that we get to make it, but that’s up to the great people at Hulu.”

Hulu’s untitled Cable Guy remake will introduce Johnson as Chip Douglas, who works as an old-school cable technician despite living in a world dominated by streaming and algorithms. Meanwhile, Wayans Jr. has signed on to portray Steven Stephens, who finds himself connecting with Chip after calling him to fix his cable. However, their friendship soon changes when Chip’s enthusiasm turns into obsession. According to its official logline, the show will be inspired by the 1996 movie, which will explore the dark and absurd side of modern male friendships.

Johnson and Wayans will also be joined by The White Lotus star Natasha Rothwell as Gina, His & Hers star Crystal Fox as Lynette, and Maggie star Rebecca Rittenhouse as Robin. The project hails from showrunners Rob Rosell, Joe Piarulli, and Luan Thomas, who also wrote the pilot together. The Hulu adaptation won't be a total remake of the original Jim Carrey movie, as the showrunners want to honor it by doing something similar to what the Fargo series did with the original Coen brothers movie. Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty have also signed on as executive producers.

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The original 1996 movie was directed by Ben Stiller. Aside from Carrey, it also featured a stellar cast including Matthew Broderick, Leslie Mann, and Jack Black. During its theatrical run, the film grossed around $102 million against a $47 million budget. Despite receiving mixed reception, it eventually became a cult classic, making it one of Jim Carrey’s career-defining movies.

At the time of writing, Johnson’s The Cable Guy-inspired dark comedy show still hasn’t received an official series order from Hulu.

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The Cable Guy is a 1996 dark comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, featuring Jim Carrey as an overly enthusiastic cable installer who fixates on a new customer. As the customer seeks to distance himself, the installer's unstable nature emerges, leading to escalating tension and isolation.