Mike Judge’s In The Know: Plot, Cast, and Everything Else We Know

Peacock has set their first adult animated series, and they’re turning to an established hitmaker. Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill‘s Mike Judge is creating In the Know for the streamer.

The project marks the latest entry in Judge’s busy year of work. In June 2022, the creator revived Beavis and Butt-Head for Paramount+’s original film Beavis and Butt-head Do the Universe. A new season of the original animated hit was later released in August. Every few years, we hear rumblings about a King of the Hill revival, too, though the latest update from September 2022 seems to indicate that it will not be moving forward.

For In The Know, Judge is teaming with past collaborators. Greg Daniels, who co-created King of the Hill with Judge (and more famously developed the American adaptation of The Office), will executive produce. Zach Woods, who starred in Judge’s live-action Silicon Valley, is also on board to executive produce along with Brandon Gardner. In a departure from Judge’s other animated works, In the Know will feature stop-motion puppets, a genre that has gained steam in the adult animated world.

Now, let’s look at everything we know about In the Know (no pun intended). What can we expect from the plot? Who is in the cast? When and where will the series be released?

In the Know: The Plot

Since it is still early in development, plot details are light. We do have an official description from Universal Television, which reads:

“Lauren Caspian is NPR’s third most popular host. He’s a well-meaning, hypocritical nimrod, just like you and me. He’s also a stop-motion puppet. Each episode follows the making of an episode of Lauren’s show In the Know, in which Lauren conducts in-depth interviews with real world human guests. Lauren collaborates with a diverse crew of NPR staff. They are also puppets and nimrods.”

From that description, we can gather that the series will likely be a send-up of actual NPR programming. That would follow how Judge’s previous series satirize or comment on some aspect of society. Beavis and Butt-head satirized ‘90s teenage metalheads, King of the Hill played on suburban blue-collar life, and Silicon Valley parodied tech startups. Also, despite being announced only as an adult animated series, the “real world human guests” element of the description indicates that the series could potentially blend live-action with stop-motion puppet animation.

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While Judge’s work may not be as raunchy as other adult animated staples like Family Guy or South Park, he is still an established name in the industry and a strong choice to helm Peacock’s first adult animated series. More plot information will likely be released as we get closer to the release date.

In the Know: The Cast

As of this writing, there is no confirmation of which cast members will play which roles. We also know of only one confirmed character from the description, lead Lauren Caspian. Judge and executive producer Zach Woods are expected to voice characters in the series, though we don’t yet know which roles. From Judge’s past work, we can guess that he will likely play the lead role, in addition to possible side characters.

RELATED: Mike Judge Revived Beavis and Butt-Head Because He Still Loves Doing the Voices

Judge voiced both Beavis and Butt-head, as well as additional characters Principal McVicker, teacher David Van Driessen, Coach Buzzcut, and neighbor Tom Anderson (whose voice is nearly identical to Hank Hill). Speaking of Hank Hill, Judge voiced him and the fan-favorite neighbor Jeff Boomhauer in King of the Hill. Zach Woods has done guest voice roles in The Simpsons and Big Mouth but has not had any main voice roles. He is no stranger to comedy, appearing in both Judge’s Silicon Valley as well as the last three seasons of The Office as Gabe Lewis.

We can expect to learn additional castings (as well as if Judge is indeed playing the lead role as he’s been known to do) in the coming months leading up to the release.

Release Date

In the Know was announced by Peacock in September 2022, so it is likely very early in production. As a result, there is no confirmed release date as of yet. However, given animation’s timetable, we can reasonably anticipate a release date of 2023 or 2024. That may need to be revised depending on the logistics of the stop-motion puppet animation.

In the Know will actually mark Judge’s fifth animated series. Everyone knows Beavis and Butt-head and King of the Hill, but his later two series seem to remain in obscurity. The Goode Family focused on a liberal family in a similar vein to King of the Hill and the more conservative Hills. It only aired for one season on ABC in 2009 before cancelation. Tales From the Tour Bus presented a documentary-style look at real-life musicians, where animation was blended with real-life news and interview footage. That aired on Cinemax for two seasons in 2017 and 2018.