Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne, Mickey Rourke join Will Forte's MacGruber series

MacGruber, Universal's eight-episode action-comedy series has added actors Sam Elliott, Laurence Fishburne and Mickey Rourke to its cast.

The series is based on Will Forte's recurring parody sketch on Saturday Night Live and its 2010 offshoot film MacGruber. The actors will join Forte, Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe, who will reprise their roles as MacGruber, Vicki St. Elmo and Dixon Piper, respectively

The series chronicles America’s ultimate hero and uber patriot MacGruber (Forte), who after spending over a decade in prison, is finally released. His mission now is to take on a mysterious villain from his past, Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth (Rourke), for which MacGruber has to reassemble his old team of Vicki St. Elmo (Wiig) and Dixon Piper (Phillippe) to defeat the forces of evil.

Elliott will play MacGruber's father, Perry. MacGruber needs his father's guidance to succeed in his mission. Fishburne will play General Barrett Fasoose, a highly decorated soldier, and a man who is currently married to MacGruber’s ex-wife, Vicki St. Elmo. Rourke will play the mortal enemy Brigadier Commander Enos Queeth. Long thought dead, he resurfaces to destroy the world and claim his revenge against MacGruber.

Forte will also serve as writer and executive producer in the series, alongside John Solomon and Jorma Taccone who will also both direct. Lorne Michaels, John Goldwyn, Andrew Singer and Erin David also serve as executive producers. MacGruber is from Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, and Broadway Video.