WIRE Buzz: Mark Hamill vamps for What We Do in the Shadows; Muppets Now moving right along; more

Aside from wilting in sunlight and running away from garlic, who knew that a common vampire trait is having no idea who Mark Hamill is? That’s the silly setup to the first footage from Hamill’s upcoming appearance on What We Do in the Shadows, which the Jedi master teased today via Twitter.

“Here's your #Fangtastic1stLook at what I do in the shadows…” tweeted Hamill, accompanied by a funny clip that finds him stammering to command the respect he thinks he deserves. Judging by the video, what Hamill's character does is stand around crestfallen and vexed that nobody in the show’s realm of inept immortals has any idea that he’s someone they’re supposed to know.

Hamill is set to come out at night next week, when “On the Run,” the sixth episode of the show’s current second season, lands at FX. From prior casting info, we already know that he’s playing “a vengeful enemy from Laszlo's (Matt Berry) past who appears without warning to settle a personal debt.”

Hmm … if Hamill’s whole reason for stopping by is to demand payback for what he's owed, maybe there’s a self-serving reason why everybody’s acting like they don’t recognize his wispy gray locks and pallid complexion. Check out Hamill’s vampiric visit at 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday, May 13, when the new episode of What We Do in the Shadows debuts on FX.

We’ve known since before Disney+ debuted last fall that Disney’s been planning to invite The Muppets to its TV streaming party. Now we have a better idea of when Kermit and company will be knocking on the door.

Via Comicbook.com, Disney recently dropped a brief mention of its upcoming short-form series Muppets Now in an unrelated press release about Disney Family Sing-Along Vol. 2 coming to Disney+, teasing that “fans of The Muppets can also see more of Kermit, Miss Piggy and friends in the upcoming Disney+ series, Muppets Now, premiering this summer.”

That’s not exactly a firm premiere date, but it’s also the first sign we’ve seen since last year that Disney is moving ahead with its small-screen plans for Fozzie, Gonzo, and the rest of the gang. Last summer, Kermit the Frog even took a big risk in revealing the series, hopping on Twitter to shared a heavily redacted “letter” that let fans in on the secret that Muppets Now would lean into improv as a “short-form unscripted series.”

“I’d love to tell you more,” the uneasily green one croaked, “but Joe The Legal Weasel is right behind me. Gulp!”

Hey, if Kermit’s afraid to say more than that, then we won’t make any leaps of speculation either. For now, we’re just content knowing there will be new Muppets hijinks to look forward to sometime this summer.

How popular is Scooby-Doo? Sure, there’s nothing not to love about the world’s grooviest, most sleuth-savvy talking Great Dane. But a new TikTok dance craze inspired by the upcoming movie debut of Scoob is whipping up the kind of viral following that even Marvel and Lucasfilm would envy.

Social media influencer Jalaiah Harmon, the 14-year-old online star who’s also responsible for the “Renegade” dance, hit TikTok with the #ScoobDance challenge (featuring original music from Movers+Shakers) on May 3 — and in four days' time, the clip has racked up a mind-boggling 2.1 billion views worldwide, according to Deadline. The official Scoob Twitter account is all in on the promoted phenomenon, of course, and zoinks! — Harmon's moves are definitely paying off ahead of the movie’s straight-to-streaming release next week.

Hop on board the Mystery Machine, if you dare:

Even if you’re paying in Scooby Snacks, it’s hard to put a price on that kind of viral marketing, right? We’re not sure if billions of people will tune in when Scoob scampers onto VOD, but with this many fans doin’ the #ScoobDance, we just might be looking at another family-friendly hit during the coronavirus-spurred, straight-to-video movie era. (Trolls World Tour racked up nearly $100 million in just three weeks after going straight to VOD and digital platforms.)

The star power’s certainly there for Scoob, which features a celebrity voice cast including Will Forte as Shaggy and Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo, along with Mark Wahlberg, Jason Isaacs, Gina Rodriguez, Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Tracy Morgan, Simon Cowell, and more. Scoob has its puppy-dog eyes set on the small screen beginning May 15 ... which gives us exactly one week to put the finishing touches on our own mysterious dance moves.