The Party Down Revival Is Officially Happening at Starz

It’s official: Party Down is revving back up. Variety reports that the short-lived Starz series is returning, with most of the original cast intact. The show’s creators, which include Rob Thomas (of Veronica Mars fame, and not Santana’s “Smooth”), John Enbom, Dan Etheridge, and a certain People’s Sexiest Man of the Year named Paul Rudd, will also be on board as executive producers, with Enbom as showrunner.

One notable cast member will be missing from the revival due to schedule conflicts, and unfortunately it’s a major one. Lizzy Caplan, who played aspiring stand-up comedian Casey Klein, won’t be part of the revival. The rest of the cast—Ken Marino, Adam Scott, Jane Lynch, Ryan Hansen, Martin Starr, and Megan Mullally—will all be returning. And honestly, as much as we’ll miss Caplan, who was fantastic in the original, it’s a good sign for her character that she’s not returning, since these same characters still working as caterers over a decade later is about the most depressing possible outcome for all of them. Casey actually escaped from Party Down; congrats!

Anyway, if you’ve never seen Party Down—still a distinct possibility since it aired on Starz, of all places—you can catch up on Hulu. It’s about a catering company in L.A. staffed almost entirely by people who hope to make it in show business, from actors to writers to comedians, and it can be absolutely brutal in its satire of Hollywood and its various hangers-on. It’s also hilarious, and its cast is, from top to bottom, one of the best ever assembled. It holds up exceedingly well, even after a decade, and with only 12 episodes it’s a very quick watch. You can knock it out in a day or two, and you’ll have a hard time not doing just that if you start watching it.

Revivals are extremely hit or miss, of course. With this cast, and the behind-the-scenes people involved, there’s reason to be optimistic about the return of Party Down. Hopefully Thomas resists the urge to blow up Ken Marino in the very last scene.