Netflix’s Agent Elvis is the show Bojack Horseman fans have been waiting for
Agent Elvis spoilers follow.
With a shake of his hips and a flick of his cape, Agent Elvis is here to fill the cool, sarcastic void left behind in adult animation when Bojack Horseman ended back in 2020.
Like Bojack, Netflix series Agent Elvis is a sharply written, funny and irreverent slice of adult entertainment (and with a sex-crazed, drug-addicted chimp as part of the cast, we can’t stress the ‘adult’ part enough), featuring an impressive list of actors in the voice roles, including Matthew McConaughey as Elvis Presley himself.
While it may not have the emotional depth that was Bojack’s hidden superpower, Agent Elvis more than matches the cult classic series for style, action, outrageous laughs and pop-culture references. And – if it is possible when you remember Bojack Horseman was about a half-horse, half-human – Agent Elvis is even more bonkers.
The show description is enough to tip you off that this is going to be a series about the Blue Suede Shoes singer unlike anything we have seen on screen before: “Elvis Presley trades in his white jumpsuit for a jet pack when he is covertly inducted into a government spy program to help battle the dark forces that threaten the country he loves – all while holding down his day job as the King of Rock and Roll.” Oh, okay.
The first episode of this addictively mad enterprise is set in 1968, with Elvis preparing to stage his famous TV comeback special. However, Presley, his best friend/sidekick Bobby Ray (Johnny Knoxville) and Scatter (Spongebob Squarepants’ Tom Kenny), the cigar-smoking chimpanzee based on Elvis’s real pet, are sidetracked when it emerges that Elvis has been put on a ‘kill list’. Fortunately, special agent Cece Ryder (Kaitlin Olson) comes to their rescue when they are targeted by Charles Manson and his Family.
As mentioned, every episode is packed with pop-culture references, but it’s the pop culture of the late 1960s, so get ready to spot Sammy Davis Jr and reclusive millionaire Howard Hughes (with his near-legendary jars of urine) alongside Manson at Spahn Ranch, as well as singer Robert Goulet and a gun-toting Dean Martin.
Even the name of the spy organisation Elvis joins – TCB (The Central Bureau)– is a nod to the King’s famous ‘Taking Care of Business’ personal motto that was also the name of his backing band, and there are numerous other references to Elvis’s films and career that will please fans and get Elvis newbies frantically searching Wikipedia (yes, it is true that he knew karate, but he didn’t assault his drummer as depicted in one of the episodes).
There are guest voices to spot, too – as well as regulars Niecy Nash as Elvis’s housekeeper/mother figure Bertie and Don Cheadle as TCB’s Commander, famous names including Christina Hendricks, Kieran Culkin, Gary Cole and Simon Pegg have roles, as does a certain director with connections to the King.
And that’s not all. As well as deliciously grisly comic-book violence, vintage references and a fast-paced story, there’s a fun soundtrack, too – not just featuring Elvis and his many memorable hits, but other artists from the time like The Doors and David Bowie.
All those elements come together to make a show that feels like Quentin Tarantino watched Forrest Gump and Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic while on hallucinogens, and this was the end result. It shouldn’t work, but it absolutely does.
The first adult animation project from Sony Pictures Animation (of Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse fame), co-created by Elvis’s widow, Priscilla Presley (who voices herself in the series), it’s completely crazy stuff, but somehow something you can imagine Elvis himself would have loved, especially when you bear in mind that he told Richard Nixon he wanted to work for the DEA, and mentioned during his career that he would have loved to be a comic-book hero.
“I know this is a dream come true for Elvis because this is really what he wanted to do,” Priscilla Presley said at the launch of Agent Elvis, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
“He wanted to be a federal agent, and for me, I’ve always wanted to give Elvis what he wanted and never really quite made it. He was a beautiful human being and a very talented human being, and I want kids to see who he really was in this because he really was, he wanted to be an agent. And now he is.”
He is indeed. And a super-cool, kick-ass one, too.
Agent Elvis season 1 is now available to stream on Netflix.
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