Amy Poehler's Dig Adds Mantzoukas, Mulligan and Dumezweni Ahead of Its November Premiere

Peacock's next big comedy bet just got considerably funnier on paper. Dig, the upcoming series co-created by Amy Poehler and Michael Schur and led by Poehler herself, has added five performers to its ensemble, Variety reported this week — Jason Mantzoukas, Brennan Lee Mulligan and Noma Dumezweni in recurring roles, with Max Greenfield and Dan Bucatinsky set to guest star. The additions land about five weeks before the show's premiere, and the official character descriptions suggest a series that intends to surround its central archaeology team with looters, money men, art dealers and museum power brokers. In other words, everybody at this dig wants something — and not everybody found it in the ground.

The headline name for comedy fans is Mantzoukas. He will recur as Lambros, described as a local store owner and an occasional looter of the treasures unearthed at the dig site. It is the kind of part that reads like it was written with his particular energy in mind: friendly on the surface, cheerfully criminal underneath, and positioned to wander into any scene with a plausible excuse and an implausible plan. Mantzoukas is also a familiar presence in Schur's world, with work across Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine and The Good Place, and a recent turn in the second season of Schur's A Man on the Inside. When Schur assembles a comedy ensemble, he tends to bring back performers whose timing he trusts, and Mantzoukas has been one of those trusted players for years.

A wealthy dilettante, a formidable mother, and the art world at the gates

Mulligan, best known to a large and devoted online audience as the dungeon master of Dimension 20, recurs as Marcus Robertson Jr., known as M.R. — a wealthy dilettante who is trying to decide whether to donate money to support the dig. That single description sets up an entire season's worth of leverage: an excavation that needs funding, and a rich man who may or may not provide it, holding his chequebook over every decision the team makes. Dumezweni, currently seen in Apple TV's Murderbot, plays Evelyn, the mother of Clare, the head preservationist played by Antonia Thomas. Evelyn is described as a figure who looms very large in her daughter's life and weighs in on her decisions whether Clare wants her to or not — a family pressure storyline running alongside the adventure plot.

The two guest stars complete the circle of outside interests closing in on the site. Greenfield, who starred for seven seasons in New Girl and eight in The Neighborhood, and who also appeared in A Man on the Inside's second season, plays Andrew, a high-society art dealer whom Poehler's Elise meets at a fancy party. Bucatinsky, an Emmy winner for his recurring work on Scandal who also worked with Schur on Hacks, plays Fritz, a New York museum director who becomes interested in Clare's professional future. Put the five descriptions together and a shape emerges: the dig's discovery will attract a looter who wants the treasure, a patron who wants influence, a dealer who wants the art, a museum that wants the prestige, and a mother who wants a say. The archaeologists in the middle will have to protect the find from everyone, including, presumably, each other.

What Dig actually is

For anyone just catching up: Dig is a 10-episode comedy based on Kate Myers' 2023 novel Excavations, with Myers herself serving as an executive producer. It follows a team of archaeologists and college students working at an excavation site in Greece who uncover a rare artifact that sends them on what the official logline calls the adventure of a lifetime — a discovery that also places them in the middle of an international conspiracy. The premise, built around archaeologists, ancient artifacts and globe-trotting stakes, has inevitably drawn comparisons to Indiana Jones, albeit filtered through a workplace-comedy sensibility.

Poehler stars as Elise, the project's lead. The core cast around her includes Geraldine Viswanathan as Dylan, who returns to the Greek dig after a five-year absence to take care of unfinished business; Antonia Thomas as Clare, who oversees the site's lab and museum as head preservationist; Fina Strazza as Patty, an undergraduate assistant on her first trip outside the United States; and Hugh Laurie as Neville, a British professor who sincerely loves archaeology, strives to uphold the traditions of the profession, and fancies himself an inspiring mentor to everyone at the site. Previously announced guest stars include Kayvan Novak, Jon Pointing and Bonita Friedericy.

The series also marks a notable reunion. Dig is the first collaboration between Schur and Poehler since Parks and Recreation, which Schur co-created and Poehler starred in for seven seasons on NBC. J.J. Philbin, Schur's wife, is an executive producer and writer on the series. That creative pedigree is a large part of Peacock's pitch: a proven comedy partnership, an ensemble built from performers that partnership already knows how to use, and a setting — part summer camp, part serious excavation, part treasure hunt — that gives every character a reason to be ambitious, territorial and slightly sunburned.

Why this casting round matters

Casting announcements this close to a premiere are partly marketing, but the specific roles matter for what they promise about the show's engine. A pure workplace comedy set at a dig could run on the core five alone. By adding a looter, a potential funder, an art dealer and a museum director, Dig is building the machinery for stories about what a discovery is worth, who gets to claim it, and what people will do to get their names attached to it. Those are durable comedy stakes — they powered plenty of Parks and Recreation storylines about budgets, donors and public credit, transplanted here to a Greek hillside with considerably older valuables.

All 10 episodes of Dig premiere on Monday, November 23, 2026, on Peacock — a full-season binge drop timed for Thanksgiving week, when streaming services compete hardest for viewers with time off. Whether the show becomes Peacock's next word-of-mouth comedy will depend on the chemistry of that core team, but on the evidence of this casting round, Schur and Poehler are not short of people for them to play against. You can follow more of the season's premieres and casting moves in our TV coverage, browse what's new across streaming in Browse, and catch up on the day's other entertainment stories in the news feed.