Summary
- Netflix’s The Hawk stars Will Ferrell as Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, a washed-up golf legend attempting to complete the sport’s Grand Slam more than two decades after his 2004 peak season
- The show marks Ferrell’s first television comedy, which he created and executive produced alongside a team that includes Rian Johnson and director David Gordon Green, with the PGA Tour as a series partner
- The ensemble cast features Molly Shannon, Luke Wilson, Fortune Feimster, Jimmy Tatro, and Chris Parnell, among others, with a Summer 2026 release window on Netflix
Will Ferrell is bringing his sports comedy instincts to Netflix this summer with The Hawk, a new series centered on Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, a golf legend whose 2004 peak season is two decades behind him and whose body has suggestions his heart refuses to accept. The show marks Ferrell’s first foray into television comedy as both creator and lead, and arrives with a creative team and a cast built for the premise to land well beyond the fairway.
The case for taking The Hawk seriously starts with what Ferrell has already built in the sports comedy space. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby remains one of the defining comedies of the 2000s, a film that managed to satirize NASCAR culture, American masculinity, and the mythology of winning without losing its genuine affection for any of them. Blades of Glory did something similar for figure skating. In both cases, Ferrell’s particular skill was playing a character whose delusion was total and whose commitment to that delusion made him sympathetic rather than simply ridiculous. Lonnie Hawkins, the man who insists he is one stroke away from the greatest comeback in golf history while everyone around him knows otherwise, fits that template precisely.
What is new here is the format. Television gives the premise room that a two-hour film does not, and the creative team around Ferrell suggests the show intends to use it. Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s T-Street production company, better known for the Knives Out franchise, is among the executive producers alongside David Gordon Green, whose filmography spans Pineapple Express to the recent Halloween trilogy. The PGA Tour‘s partnership with the series adds an institutional credibility that should translate into production access, the kind of detail that separates a golf comedy that feels real from one that clearly was not allowed anywhere near a real course.
The ensemble does a lot of the structural work. Molly Shannon plays Stacy, Lonnie’s estranged wife. Jimmy Tatro is Lance, his son and golf’s current golden boy, which sets up a generational rivalry with enough comedic tension to sustain multiple episodes. Luke Wilson as rival Golden Fisk and Chris Parnell as PGA Tour board member Anton round out the antagonist side of the ledger with two performers who know exactly how to play straight-faced opposition to Ferrell’s chaos. Fortune Feimster as Sam, Lonnie’s new caddie, and Aida Osman as Crystal bring energy to the supporting cast that suggests the show is not solely built around its lead.
The golf setting itself is worth noting as a choice. Unlike NASCAR or figure skating, golf carries a specific cultural weight in 2026, sitting at the intersection of legacy sport and lifestyle category in a way it has not before. The PGA Tour’s ongoing visibility, combined with the sport’s expanding reach across demographics, means The Hawk arrives into an audience moment that is genuinely receptive to a prestige comedy treatment of the game. Ferrell’s Lonnie Hawkins chasing the Grand Slam is not just a character premise. It is a way into a world a lot of people are newly curious about.
Watch the teaser above. The Hawk lands on Netflix this summer.
