Twisted Metal Is Missing The Game's Most Bizarre Celebrity Racer

Jul 15, 2023

Peacock's Twisted Metal TV series pulled in a lot of major and minor characters from the games, but season 2 should feature its only celebrity racer.

Warning: Major spoilers for Peacock's Twisted Metal season 1 below!

Peacock's Twisted Metal adaptation brought in many of the video game's famous characters, but season 2 should feature the franchise's only celebrity racer. The first Twisted Metal game arrived on the PlayStation 1 back in 1995, and later games built up a substantial amount of lore and backstory. That said, the franchise hit the reset switch several times, with titles such as Twisted Metal: Black and 2012's Twisted Metal featuring completely new backstories and designs for characters such as Sweet Tooth or Mr. Grimm.

Twisted Metal season 1's ending reveals the show has been something of a prequel, with Anthony Mackie's John Doe really being auditioned to become a racer in the upcoming Twisted Metal tournament. The show's villain Raven (Neve Campbell) sent John on a near-impossible delivery run just to see if he would return alive, which makes him a perfect driver for the death race contest. The ending teases Twisted Metal game characters like Axel will make appearances, and in general the series pulled deep from the game's rich history.

Related: Twisted Metal Makes The Same Video Game Adaptation Mistake As Mortal Kombat

Few fans of the Twisted Metal games would have expected characters like Mike and Stu or Granny Dread to have featured roles, for example. Twisted Metal season 2 promises to be a more faithful take on the games, and since the showrunners have already proved their willingness to dive deep into Twisted Metal's history, it should give rocker Rob Zombie a role for season 2. Zombie actually made an appearance in 1999's Twisted Metal 4, where he raced in - what else? - his "Dragula" car.

The Dragula's special attack is a skull that electrified enemies before exploding. While Twisted Metal 4 featured Zombie's likeness and some of his music, he doesn't appear to have recorded any dialogue for the title. Twisted Metal 4 itself is considered one of the franchise's weaker outings, but various other one-off characters featured in it - such as Pizza Boy or Petunia - still made guest appearances on the Peacock show. Given the cartoonish tone of Twisted Metal, it's not much of a stretch to think Zombie exists somewhere in the post-apocalyptic world of the series and would drive a souped "Dragula" around the country.

Rob Zombie doesn't have many acting credits to his name, but if he was offered a one episode guest spot or cameo on Twisted Metal season 2, he might be tempted by it. That said, despite the major sequel tease at the end of the first series, season 2 hasn't been greenlit yet. Showrunner Michael Jonathan stated on Twitter he has no idea if a season 2 will happen, and its chances have been impacted by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA strike. Twisted Metal season 1 was broadly well-received by critics and seems to be going over well with viewers, so the odds of another season feel better than average.

Source: Twitter