The first season of “Twisted Metal” was a total blast, but now, the high-octane mayhem is hitting the gas, blowing stuff up, and, based on the latest trailer, delivering the right dose of chaos that fans have been craving. The Peacock original streaming series, inspired by the vehicular combat video game of the same name, blends road rage, explosions, and dark humor into a uniquely untethered ride, but avoids the same narrative trappings that plague other video game-to-series adaptations. If you were a teen (or tween with cool parents) in the late 1990s or early 2000s, odds are you either played “Twisted Metal” religiously or knew someone who exclusively wore D-Generation X “Suck It” T-shirts who wouldn’t shut up about Sweet Tooth and his wasteland ice cream truck. And yet, against all odds, the series has become one of the most unexpectedly fun adaptations in recent memory.
Created by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, along with showrunner Michael Jonathan Smith, the series stars Anthony Mackie as John Doe, the wisecracking delivery man, alongside Stephanie Beatriz as Quiet, a fierce and sharp-tongued survivor with her own mysterious past. The first season was a riotous road trip across a post-apocalyptic U.S. and ended with John being drafted into a deadly tournament proposed by the mysterious Raven (played by Neve Campbell), while Quiet was taken by a group of masked women led by none other than John’s sister, the enigmatic Dollface (Tiana Okoye). This means that season 2 will center on the tournament hosted by Calypso (Anthony Carrigan), aligning the series with the gameplay that fans are most familiar with. And oh boy, does it look wild. I never thought I’d see the character Axel (Michael James Shaw) turn himself into his own vehicle in live-action, but Peacock loves us and wants us all to be happy.
