''Miracle Workers'' is an American anthology

comedy Comedy is a genre of fiction that consists of discourses or works intended to be humorous or amusing by inducing laughter, especially in theatre, film, stand-up comedy, television, radio, books, or any other entertainment medium. The term o ...

television series created by

Simon Rich Simon Rich (born June 5, 1984) is an American humorist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has published two novels and six collections of humor pieces, several of which appeared in ''The New Yorker.'' His novels and short stories have been translat ...

for TBS. It is based in part on Rich's writings, with the first season being based on his 2012 novel ''What in God's Name'', while the short story "Revolution" provided the basis for the second season. The series stars an ensemble cast comprising

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...

, Steve Buscemi, Geraldine Viswanathan, Jon Bass,

Karan Soni Karan Soni (born January 8, 1989) is an Indian-American actor and comedian. Often appearing in comedic roles, he came to prominence for playing Dopinder in the films ''Deadpool'' (2016) and its sequel ''Deadpool 2'' (2018). Born in New Delhi, ...

, Sasha Compère, and

Lolly Adefope Ololade "Lolly" Adefope (born 14 September 1990) is a British stand-up comedian and actress, specialising in character comedy. She is known for playing the role of Fran in the Hulu comedy series '' Shrill'', and as Kitty, the ghost of a Georgia ...

. ''Miracle Workers'' premiered on February 12, 2019, with its seven-episode first season. A ten-episode second season, subtitled ''Dark Ages'', premiered in January 2020. The third season, subtitled ''Oregon Trail'', premiered on July 13, 2021. In November 2021, the series was renewed for a fourth season, subtitled ''End Times'', set to premiere on January 16, 2023.

Premise

Season 1

The first season follows Craig, a low-level angel responsible for handling all of humanity's prayers, and Eliza, a recent transfer from the Department of Dirt. Their boss, God, has pretty much checked out to focus on his favorite hobbies. To prevent Earth's destruction, Craig and Eliza must achieve their most impossible miracle to date. The season is based on Rich's novel ''What in God's Name''.

Season 2

The second season is set during the Dark Ages, and is based on Rich's short story "Revolution".

Season 3

Reverend Ezekiel Brown leads his dying, famine-stricken town for a better life on the

Oregon Trail The Oregon Trail was a east–west, large-wheeled wagon route and emigrant trail in the United States that connected the Missouri River to valleys in Oregon. The eastern part of the Oregon Trail spanned part of what is now the state of Kans ...

, taking in notorious outlaw Benny the Teen as trailmaster.

Season 4

Season four takes place in a post-nuclear apocalyptic setting.

Cast and characters

Main

as: ** Craig Bog (season 1) ** Prince Chauncley the Pretty Cool (season 2) ** Reverend Ezekiel Brown (season 3) * Steve Buscemi as: ** God (season 1) ** Edward "Eddie" Murphy Shitshoveler (season 2) ** Benny the Teen (season 3) * Geraldine Viswanathan as: ** Eliza Hunter (season 1) ** Alexandra "Al" Shitshoveler (season 2) ** Prudence Aberdeen (season 3) *

as: ** Sanjay Prince (season 1) ** Lord Chris Vexler (season 2) ** The Gunslinger (season 3) * Jon Bass as: ** Sam (season 1) ** Michael "Mikey" Shitshoveler (season 2) ** Todd Aberdeen (season 3) * Sasha Compère as Laura (season 1) *

as: ** Rosie (season 1) ** Maggie (season 2)

Guest

Season 1

* John Reynolds as Mason *

Angela Kinsey Angela Faye Kinsey (born June 25, 1971) is an American actress. She played Angela Martin in the sitcom ''The Office'' (2005–2013) and appeared in the sitcoms '' Your Family or Mine'' (2015) and ''Haters Back Off'' (2016–2017). Since ''The ...

as Gail, an angel in the Department of Angel Resources *

Tim Meadows Timothy Meadows (born February 5, 1961) is an American actor and comedian. He was one of the longest-running cast members on ''Saturday Night Live'', where he appeared for ten seasons and for which he received a nomination for the Primetime Emm ...

as Dave Shelby * Chris Parnell as God's Dad *

Margaret Cho Margaret Moran Cho (born December 5, 1968) is an American comedian, actress, LGBT social activist, and musician. She is known for her stand-up routines, through which she critiques social and political problems, especially regarding race and se ...

as God's Mom *

Tituss Burgess Tituss Burgess (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor and singer. He has appeared in numerous Broadway musicals and is known for his high tenor voice. He is best known for starring as Titus Andromedon on the Netflix comedy series '' Unb ...

as God's Brother * Ruby Matenko as God's Sister

Season 2

Peter Serafinowicz Peter Szymon Serafinowicz ( ; born 10 July 1972) is an English actor, comedian, director and screenwriter, best known for his roles as the title character in the 2016 live-action series of '' The Tick'', Pete in ''Shaun of the Dead'' (2004) an ...

as King Cragnoor the Heartless * Tony Cavalero as Ted Carpenter *

Jessica Lowe ''Wrecked'' is an American sitcom that was created by Jordan Shipley and Justin Shipley for TBS. The series is about a group of people stranded on an island, after their airplane crashed in the ocean and is a parody of '' Lost''. The 10-episode ...

as Mary Baker *

Jamie Demetriou Jamie Demetriou (born November 1987) is an English comedian, actor and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Bus Rodent in ''Fleabag'' and for creating, co-writing, and starring in ''Stath Lets Flats''. For the latter, he won Best Male A ...

as Town crier * Kevin Dunn as Bert Shitshoveler *

Fred Armisen Fereydun Robert Armisen (born December 4, 1966) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and musician. With his comedy partner Carrie Brownstein, Armisen was the co-creator and co-star of the IFC sketch comedy series '' Portlandia''. ...

as Percival Forthwind *

Kerri Kenney-Silver Kerri Kenney-Silver (born January 20, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and musician. She is best known for starring as Trudy Wiegel on the mockumentary series ''Reno 911!'' and previously for her sketch comedy work on MTV ...

as Lila * Dee Ahluwalia as Lucas * Jack Mosedale as Wesley Pervert * Sinead Phelps as Trish * Greta Lee as Princess Vicki

Season 3

* Lamont Thompson as Farmer John * Tammy Dahlstrom as Martha * River Drosche as Young Levi *

Shay Mitchell Shannon Ashley Garcia "Shay" Mitchell (born April 10, 1987) is a Canadian actress and model. She rose to prominence for her role as Emily Fields in the mystery thriller drama series ''Pretty Little Liars'' (2010–2017), which earned her nom ...

as Purple * Jordan Firstman as Kaya * Mary Anne McGarry as Granny McGill * Quinta Brunson as Trig * Carl Tart as Lionel *

as Jedidiah Noonan * Erin Darke as Phaedra *

as Branchwater tavern host *

Ron Funches Ronald Kyle Funches (born March 12, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and writer. Born in California, Funches spent his early life in Chicago before relocating to Salem, Oregon, as a teenager. He began his comedy career in Portland, Oregon, at ...

as Dirty Dick Bob *

Karamo Brown Karamo Karega Brown (born November 2, 1980) is an American television host, reality television personality, author, actor, and activist. Brown began his career in 2004 on the MTV reality show '' The Real World: Philadelphia'', becoming the first ...

as American Patriot * Marisa Quintanilla as Sheila *

Bobby Moynihan Bobby Moynihan (born January 31, 1977) is an American actor, comedian and writer who was a cast member on ''Saturday Night Live'' from 2008 until 2017. He also voiced Louie Duck on Disney's ''DuckTales'' from 2017 to 2021, Panda in ''We Bare Be ...

as Governor Lane * Paul F. Tompkins as Snake Oil Salesman

Season 4

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2: ''Dark Ages'' (2020)

Season 3: ''Oregon Trail'' (2021)

Season 4: ''End Times''

Production

Development

On May 17, 2017, TBS announced that it had given the production a series order for a first season consisting of seven episodes. The series was created by

and based on his novel ''What in God's Name''. Executive producers were expected to include Rich,

Lorne Michaels Lorne Michaels (born Lorne David Lipowitz; November 17, 1944) is a Canadian-American producer, screenwriter, and comedian. He is best known for creating and producing ''Saturday Night Live'' (1975–1980, 1985–present) and producing the '' La ...

, Andrew Singer,

, and

Owen Wilson Owen Cunningham Wilson (born November 18, 1968) is an American actor. He has had a long association with filmmaker Wes Anderson with whom he shared writing and acting credits for '' Bottle Rocket'' (1996), '' Rushmore'' (1998), and '' The Royal ...

. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of

Broadway Video Broadway Video is an American multimedia entertainment studio founded by Lorne Michaels, creator of the sketch comedy TV series ''Saturday Night Live'' and producer of other television programs and movies. Broadway Video also held the rights to ...

and Studio T. On October 19, 2017, it was announced that Wilson would no longer be serving as an executive producer and would be replaced with Steve Buscemi. On May 15, 2019, the series was renewed for a second season. On November 20, 2019, it was announced that the second season, titled ''Miracle Workers: Dark Ages'', would premiere on January 28, 2020. On August 6, 2020, the series was renewed for a third season that will focus on the Wild West and Oregon Trail. On May 19, 2021, it was announced that the third season, titled ''Miracle Workers: Oregon Trail'', would premiere on July 13, 2021. On November 3, 2021, TBS renewed the series for a fourth season. On October 27, 2022, it was announced that the fourth season, titled ''End Times'', would premiere on January 16, 2023.

Casting

Alongside the initial series order announcement, it was confirmed that Daniel Radcliffe and Owen Wilson would star in the series. On October 19, 2017, it was announced Steve Buscemi had replaced Wilson in the role of God after the latter had decided to vacate the part. In November 2017, ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wit ...

'' and ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'' reported that Geraldine Viswanathan, Jon Bass,

, and Sasha Compère had been cast in series regular roles. On March 25, 2018, it was announced that

had joined the cast in a main role. On May 27, 2021, Quinta Brunson joined in recurring role for the third season.

Filming

Principal photography for the first season took place in December 2017 and January 2018 in and around

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

. Filming took place in

Norcross, Georgia Norcross is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia, United States. The population as of the 2010 census was 9,116, while in 2020 the population was 17,209. It is included in the Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metropolitan statistical area. History ...

, on December 29, 2017, and in Piedmont Park on January 16, 2018.

Release

On December 4, 2018, TBS announced that the series would premiere on February 12, 2019. On February 8, 2019, TBS released the first episode of the series on its official YouTube channel. In Australia, the series has same day release on the streaming service Stan as a Stan Exclusive.

Marketing

On December 5, 2018, TBS released a teaser trailer for the series. On December 19, 2018, the official full length trailer was released.

Premiere

On January 26, 2019, the series held a screening of the pilot episode during the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Those in attendance included Daniel Radcliffe, Geraldine Viswanathan, Karan Soni, and Simon Rich.

Reception

Critical response

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the first season has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 39 critics, with an average rating of 6.26/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "More charming than clever, ''Miracle Workers'' functions as a palatable showcase of Daniel Radcliffe and Steve Buscemi's quirky star power." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

it has a score of 61 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the second season has an approval rating of 78% based on reviews from 9 critics, with an average rating of 5.60/10.

Ratings

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2020)

Season 3 (2021)

Accolade

Radcliffe was nominated for Choice Comedy TV Actor for his work on the series at the

2019 Teen Choice Awards The 2019 Teen Choice Awards ceremony was held on August 11, 2019, and used a temporary outdoor on-beach stage in Hermosa Beach, California near the beach pier. This was the first time the ceremony was held outdoors. The awards celebrated the year' ...

Notes

References

External links

* on TBS * {{Authority control 2010s American workplace comedy television series 2020s American workplace comedy television series 2019 American television series debuts 2010s American anthology television series 2020s American anthology television series Angels in television English-language television shows Fiction about God Religious comedy television series TBS (American TV channel) original programming Television shows based on American novels Television series set in the Middle Ages Television series by Broadway Video Television series by Studio T Works by Jeff Loveness Television series created by Simon Rich Adaptations of works by Simon Rich

Premise

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Cast and characters

Main

Guest

Season 1

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Episodes

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2: ''Dark Ages'' (2020)

Season 3: ''Oregon Trail'' (2021)

Season 4: ''End Times''

Production

Development

Casting

Filming

Release

Marketing

Premiere

Reception

Critical response

Ratings

Season 1 (2019)

Season 2 (2020)

Season 3 (2021)

Accolade

See also

Notes

References

External links