Andrew Guest’s writing is strongest when it takes people’s work seriously. We value Wonder Man’s warmth, though its affection for performers makes it too gentle with the industry employing them.
Fi1m perspective
In Wonder Man (2026), performing matters because the people doing it care about getting it right. Andrew Guest’s writing is strongest when it takes that effort seriously, giving the showbusiness comedy something to observe beyond familiar complaints about Hollywood. We warmed to the series because Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley’s rapport makes its affection for performers convincing. The writing gives them enough space to make us care, and the attention paid to their work is a substantial part of the pleasure.
30 Rock (2006) has sharp writing, though it would be foolish to hand Guest sole credit for its success. He worked as script coordinator and then writer, with the episode ‘Succession’ among his credits. The show’s workplace friction depends on Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin as well as the writing, and its ensemble takes time to settle. It is a useful starting point for considering Guest: a writer working within a team, helping to make comedy that needs actors who can judge its foolishness precisely.
His writing on Community from 2009 to 2011 and Brooklyn Nine-Nine from 2015 to 2019 continued that stretch inside ensemble comedy. His Community episodes include ‘Advanced Dungeons & Dragons’ and ‘A Fistful of Paintballs’, placing him in a programme with a taste for meta-humour and pop-culture references. The more significant change comes with Wonder Man, his first series as showrunner, co-created with director Destin Daniel Cretton. That greater responsibility gives us a clearer basis for judging his choices, particularly the decision to give a Marvel series such a grounded interest in character.
The reservation is that Wonder Man likes performers enough to soften its scrutiny of the business around them. Its industry detail gives the comedy something useful to work with, but we would welcome more bite from Guest when that fondness makes the satire comfortable. That is a limit on an otherwise warm, funny series, rather than a reason to dismiss what its actors achieve. Start with Wonder Man for the performances and the attention paid to their work; anyone expecting a ruthless account of Hollywood should adjust that expectation.
Biography
Andrew Guest is an American television writer and producer. His credits include writing episodes of 30 Rock (2008), Community (2009–2011), Suburgatory (2011–2014), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (2015–2019), The Twilight Zone (2019) and Brockmire (2019).
He worked as a consulting producer on the Marvel series Hawkeye (2021). Guest served as showrunner, executive producer and writer on the 2026 Marvel series Wonder Man, and is also credited on The Hawk (2026).
