TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) – Earlier this month, Netflix announced that a new series is coming to the streaming giant – “Florida Man.”
“We’ve all seen the meme. We’ve all seen the headlines about a seemingly singular ‘Florida man’ breaking laws in the most creative ways imaginable: ‘Florida Man Arrested for [fill in blank with wild crime, possibly involving alligators],'” Netflix wrote.
According to Netflix, the show from Jason Bateman’s production company, Aggregate Films, aims to “dig way deeper into the swamp than a news snippet can.”
The series will reportedly follow one particular man from Florida, Mike Valentine, who is a recovering gambling addict. Valentine reluctantly returned to the Sunshine State after a mob boss sent him to find his missing girlfriend.
Throughout the show, Mike gets caught up in some situations “that would put some of the best ‘Florida Man’ memes to shame,” Netflix said
Creator and showrunner Donald Todd was inspired to create the show after being born and raised in the state. He said he always thought about why Florida is Florida.
“As I grew up, I never stopped thinking about why Florida is Florida,” Todd told Netflix. “Florida is a thin layer of porous crust on top of a hundred feet of water, and maybe a few feet above sea level…it might all sink. So when you feel that everything is temporary, you take what you can when you can get it. A ‘Florida man’ is someone who’s proudly independent and doesn’t live by your code, which means he doesn’t live by any code.”
When people think of all the “Florida man” memes, it’s easy to laugh, but Netflix said the central question of the show is: “How did we get here?”
“[People] laugh at the mug shots and the headlines, but what’s the story behind the meme?” Todd asked. “The brightest sun casts the darkest shadows, so people can hide in shadows. All of that creates an ethos that’s perfect for a bright and noirish crime story.”
According to Netflix, the show is set to debut on April 13, 2023.
