Syfy Releases Official Happy! Trailer
Here's some Happy! news: Syfy has unveiled the first official trailer for its upcoming series starring Christopher Meloni.
The clip begins with Meloni's character, the heavily intoxicated ex-cop turned hitman Nick Sax, making a rather dim declaration: "My life is an ever-swirling toilet that just won't flush." What follows is a little bit of Roger Rabbit in its character-to-character dynamics mixed with psychedelic sequences that will have your head spinning. There are shootouts and sparkling beauty pageants, Christmas lights and fist fights, and, of course, a tiny blue horse named Happy.
Check out the trailer above, but be warned that some of the imagery is pretty graphic.
Based on the Grant Morrison and Darick Robertson graphic novel, Happy! blends live-action with animation to tell the story of Meloni's Nick Sax, who floats around a world of casual murder, duplicity, dark motives, uninteresting and uninspiring intimacy, and a heavy dose of devil-may-care snark. Things change for Nick when a hit goes wrong (as teased in the trailer). Clinging to his life in the back of an ambulance, Nick meets meets the pint-sized, relentlessly cheerful, imaginary horse Happy (voiced by Patton Oswalt).
Meloni explained a bit about his character and the series, stating, "[My character] is Nick Sax, and he is an ex-detective, disgraced, who now makes his living killing people. In the midst of a job—i.e. an assassination—I suffer a heart attack, I wake up in an ambulance, and all of a sudden, in front of me, hovering, is this tiny, blue, flying unicorn called Happy" (via Deadline).
As for what attracted the Law & Order alum to the adaptation, Meloni said that he simply thought it was "outlandish" and wanted to be a part of it. "I thought, 'This is either going to be awesome or it's not going to work.' I thought, 'I want to go all in!'" he said.
Marco Polo's Patrick Macmanus is on board as showrunner for the series, and he previously promised that the series will do justice to the comic source material. "The major touchstones are all in there," Macmanus said during the Happy! panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year. "Hopefully you all feel like we expanded on it in an elegant way." Executive producer Brian Taylor (Crank, Gamer) added, "Honestly, I think there's a new kind of show that you're going to start seeing on Syfy, and hopefully this is one of those shows."
Graphic novel creator Morrison (also known for his work on Batman and The Invisibles) is attached as an executive producer. Taylor executive produces as well, in addition to co-writing the pilot teleplay with Morrison and directing the pilot episode. Neal Moritz, Pavun Shetty, and Toby Jaffe of Original Film (The Fast and the Furious franchise) all serve as executive producers, along with Meloni and Macmanus.
Happy! premieres on December 6 at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy.