After getting cancelled in 1997 following its eleven-year run, ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’ has laid dormant for years due to a number of factors including rights disputes. However, creator and former host Joel Hodgson set out on a mission last month to revitalize the cult classic comedy series. Through a pretty successful Kickstarter campaign, Hodgson has been able to raise enough money so far to create at least six new episodes of the show featuring new cast members aboard the Satellite of Love such as Jonah Ray, Felicia Day, Baron Vaughn, and Hampton Yount, with the latter pair lending their voices to the iconic robots Tom Servo and Crow T. Robot. And with another milestone achieved, Hodgson has revealed another new addition to the upcoming series.

In an update on the campaign page earlier this week, it was announced that comedian, actor, and all-around nerd Patton Oswalt would be joining the new season of MST3K as mad scientist Kinga Forrester’s evil henchman named TV’s Son of TV’s Frank. Hodgson also shared how this casting revelation came about:

“Remember last week, how I said my creative process usually starts with visuals, and then I work backward? Well, in this case, I first imagined Patton dressed up like TV’s Frank. I figured maybe he’d be Frank’s son, or at least a clone. But yeah: the idea of Patton wearing black lab assistant’s garb, with a big mound of silver hair and a spitcurl…? It was just really funny to me, in a visual / cross-referential / meta kind of way.”

The post from the show’s creator also revealed that Oswalt was being considered for a guest writer position before his onscreen role even came about because Hodgson was as much a fan of the comedian as Oswalt was a fan of MST3K. Now he’ll be both writing and starring on the show, and judging by this exchange between them, the actor known for his roles in ‘Ratatouille’, ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, and ‘Veep’ is pretty excited:

Knowing how much of a fan he is of ‘Mystery Science Theater 3000’, how do you Patton Oswald will fare in front of and behind the camera on the new season? Do you think that his stint as Professor Dementor on ‘Kim Possible’ has prepared him to play TV’s Son of TV’s Frank? Let us know in the comments.