Well known for its strong cast, fresh sense of humor, and kind of absurd premise, the Pitch Perfect films have aged well since the first film premiered in 2012. The most recently released sequel, Pitch Perfect 3, was a box office hit, proving that the franchise is as successful as it is funny.
Powered by an onslaught of singers led through ups and downs by adored actors such as Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson, Pitch Perfect managed to make a cappella funny, hitting jokes and addressing the plights of team competition as though they were notes on a score. For reasons that might be best left unquestioned, watching a troop of women flings themselves across a college campus, harmonizing well-known songs in crystal clarity for two and a half hours seemed to be exactly what we needed throughout the 2010s, and needless to say, precisely what we need now, too.
The TV show, streaming on Peacock, is nothing if not long overdue. With a star-studded cast and written and directed by some of the funniest talents in TV today, here’s everything we know about the upcoming Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin.
Updated November 2022 by Liz Young: If you’re looking for more details about Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin, you’ll be happy to know that we’ve updated this article with more details, including a trailer and release date.
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin: The Plot
The initial three Pitch Perfect films largely follow Kendrick’s character Beca, as she struggles to make a name for herself in the music industry in the midst of romance, college, and perhaps most obviously, the a cappella group The Barden Bellas. Kendrick is not returning in the new series, and, as revealed late last year, her character will be replaced by Bumper Allen, played by Adam Devine.
The character was typically seen throughout each film dancing, romancing, and most importantly, a cappella-ing as one of the more prominent male characters in the predominantly female cast. In the new series, Devine plays a Bumper who, having had one of his songs blow up in Germany, decides to move to Berlin to revive his musical career rather than continue being a security guard at Barden University.
He undergoes the trials and tribulations of new friends, enemies, and competition. As he enters the European media market, having his American outlook challenged by what we can only pray, he will try for a more refreshing stance than the similarly staged American-in-Europe show Emily In Paris.
In an interview with On Demand Entertainment after the release of Pitch Perfect 2, actor, director, and producer Elizabeth Banks said:
"It's very rare to have a movie that's written by a woman, directed by a woman, starring a group of women, so we're pretty proud to be hopefully inspiring more ladies."
While the original films were led almost solely from a female perspective, what we know about the plot of the upcoming series seems to find the show leaning less towards finding funny in the dynamics of femininity in competitive singing and more towards the humour in competitive singing alone.
The show sets itself up for success in one of Europe’s most high-powered music scenes, with a well-known culture of passion, pretentiousness, and punctuality ripe for the picking with Adam Devine’s gung-ho fresh-out-of-Pennsylvania character. It is also worth mentioning that the writer for the series will be Megan Amram, who gained popularity most recently for having produced The Good Place. Her track record as a writer is nothing short of impressive, having worked on famously funny shows such as The Simpsons, Silicon Valley, and Parks and Recreation, to name just a few.
Amram's proximity to the upcoming series is not a bad sign, and predictions seem hopeful for a show that lives up to its original comedic appeal. As Amram herself described in an interview at Austin Film Festival:
"To me, the most fulfilling type of thing I've worked on are these 30-minute shows where you can really get to know the characters [...] for me personally I always feel like comedy is more impactful when you've really spent a lot of time with the characters."
It might not be too far from accurate to suggest that Amram might give the Pitch Perfect series the kind of attention to characters it wouldn't have with any other writer. This might seem more evident when looking at the cast, which is substantially smaller than in the original movies, where the group competition concept gave attention to several characters almost simultaneously.
Pitch Perfect: Bumper in Berlin: The Cast
Adam Devine isn’t the only familiar face soon to grace screens. German actor Flula Borg, who also starred in the original films, becomes one of the driving forces behind Bumper’s new career. His character, Piёter Krämer, is an ex-a cappella star and now disgraced manager taking on the young singer as his only talent.
Peacock also announced actors Jameela Jamil, who will play Bumper’s rival as the upcoming star Gisela, and upcoming Austrian actor Leera Abova as a DJ and producer under the moniker DJ Das Boot. Second to Devine, in representing one of the two main American characters in the series, stars Sarah Hyland as Heidi, an off-kilter American assistant quietly performing her own songs in the Berlin cabaret in the hopes of gaining her own stardom.
With rumours of a Glee reboot hitting screens, it seems increasingly evident that audiences are ready to hear a protagonist express their pain through a cappella again. But, the upcoming Pitch Perfect series appears prepared to set its songs on bigger challenges than classroom drama. The cast, most of whom have already made a name for themselves in comedy, suggests a promising set-up for a show looking not only to find humor but also a connection between two continents in an internationally competitive industry. Where the original films looked to see a link in music through the lens of rivalry, the spin-off series looks to continue that legacy on an intercultural level, and hopefully, it succeeds.
Release Date
Peacock has confirmed that interested performers can catch the show starting November 23. It will consist of six episodes.
Everything Else We Know
Bumper in Berlin isn't the first time Adam Devine and Sarah Hyland have worked together. Hyland is well-known for her work as Haley Dunphy in the long-running sitcom Modern Family. Devine had a recurring role as Andy Bailey, a nanny for the Pritchetts. He was also an assistant to Haley's father, who was a real estate agent.
Over the course of the series, Haley and Andy start a romantic relationship, dating for a time. They did have trouble being together, though, as Andy was engaged to someone while the two fell for each other. While they didn't work out in the end, the two had significant mutual respect for each other.
Based on the trailer, the actors could play love interests again as they bond over music. Maybe it will work out for their character better the second time around.
While you wait to watch Bumper on his next great adventure (and hopefully the big break of his career), you can read up on what fans hope to see in the series.