August 2023 news update

It’s been a little while since the last news post, but things went kind of quite for a while over the summer, there. News appear to be picking up again now, though, in preparation for the late 2023 season of the international Taskmaster franchise. Here’s your round up of everything that’s been announced since the start of June, plus a summary of what else we can look forward to in the next couple of months.

Taskmaster NZ season 4 starts this week

The new season of Taskmaster NZ is starting later this year than it has in the past couple of years. It’s unclear what the reason for the delay was – whether there was a hold-up in the production of the show, or whether TVNZ simply had problems fitting it into their schedule – but on 1 August 2023 it was announced that season 4 would begin airing on 14 August 2023. Interestingly, the season will be going out on a compressed schedule of two episodes per week, on Monday and Tuesday evenings, rather than once a week on Wednesdays, as was previously the case. Brace yourself for a pretty intense burst of Kiwi Taskmaster, though, as Dai Henwood, Melanie Bracewell, Ray O’Leary, Sieni Leo’o Olo (aka Bubbah), and Karen O’Leary attempt to impress Jeremy Wells with their solutions to his fiendish tasks, aided or inconvenienced by Paul Williams. Here’s a trailer to whet your appetite:

Cast announced for Taskmaster AU season 2

On 27 June 2023, registration opened up for tickets to attend the live studio filming sessions for season 2 of Taskmaster AU - this time taking place at Docklands Studios in Melbourne - between the 10th and 14th of July 2023.

On 10 July 2023, as the studio filming began, it was announced that the season would feature the contestants Peter Helliar, Mel Buttle, Aaron Chen, Concetta Caristo, and Rhys Nicholson. It was also announced that the season would not air until 2024, dashing our hopes that maybe we could look forward to watching two seasons of the show each year.

Le Maître du Jeu season 2 coming in September

Filming of the live studio recordings for season 2 of Le Maître du Jeu, featuring Mona de Grenoble, Marie-Lyne Joncas, Kevin Raphaël, Phil Roy, and Tammy Verge, is wrapping up at Studio Cinépool in LaSalle, Quebec, this week. In a post to his Instagram story (which is no longer available), host Louis Morissette indicated that the season would start airing in September, though an exact air date has not yet been announced.

New Kongen Befaler special in production

In early August, tickets went on sale to attend the studio filming sessions for an additional four episodes of Kongen Befaler at Drammen's Theatre, scheduled to take place immediately after the studio sessions for season 8, on the 20th and 24th of September. No announcement has yet been made to indicate whether this is an extended Christmas special, or some other kind of special, such as a Champion of Champions competition. We’ll share more information on this development as and when it is released.

Also coming soon...

No air dates have yet been announced, but it is anticipated that September will also bring season 16 of Taskmaster UK, season 8 of Kongen Befaler, and season 3 of Taskmaster PT to our screens. Watch this space for further developments on all of these.

Likewise, there has not yet been an official announcement of air dates for either of Stormester’s anticipated Champion of Champions and Another Chance specials, but it seems likely that at least one of these will air before Christmas.

Unfortunately, there has been absolutely no further news on whether season 2 of Direktor Svemira will ever be aired, even though production on the season is rumoured to have been completed almost a year ago, at this point.