'Mystery Science Theater 3000' Season 12 Reveals Its Movie Lineup

After Mystery Science Theater 3000 made a return on Netflix in 2017, MSTies yearned to know when Jonah Heston (Jonah Ray) and his robot friends would return for another season. On Turkey Day — an annual MST3K marathon on Thanksgiving — that same year, creator and original host Joel Hodgson announced Netflix’s renewal of the series for a season 12 (Season 2 of The Return).

Keeping with the sanctity and spirit of Turkey Day, the new season has been named The Gauntlet and involves Kinga Forrester (Felicia Day) and TV’s Son Of TV’s Frank (Patton Oswalt) forcing a marathon of six horrendous movies on Jonah, Tom Servo (Baron Vaughn), and Crow (Hampton Yount).

It’s a unique arc for a series that’s been through many changes throughout its many iterations, hosts, and home stations over the course of 30 years. It makes sense, of course, since most fans binge the entire series anyway — so why not have the characters do the same?

The twelfth season (airing 30 years after it premiered on Minneapolis cable) hits Netflix on November 22, 2018. Related, if you have the chance to catch Hodgson and Ray on tour for the thirtieth anniversary of MST3K, do your damnedest to get tickets. I bought VIP tickets for myself and my daughter, which led to her being chosen to riff on stage with Joel and Jonah. Even if we hadn’t been that lucky, the performances by all were well worth the price of admission and nothing beats live riffs while sitting with hundreds of fellow fans.