Ron Perlman is set to turn up in Episode 3 of Dropout’s new season of Game Changer, a guest spot that arrives as the eighth season begins tonight at 7 p.m. ET. The casting gives the episode an immediate hook, but the show is not saying what Perlman will actually do when he gets there.
That matters because Game Changer opens its eighth season with 10 episodes rolling out biweekly, and Perlman’s name is the kind that changes the temperature of an episode before anyone has seen a frame. The surprise is also described as a total one for Raphael Chestang, Lily Du, Katie Marovitch, Grant O’Brien, Rekha Shankar and Siobhan Thompson, which suggests the reveal is meant to play out inside the episode rather than around it.
Game Changer is hosted by Dropout CEO Sam Reich, with Brennan Lee Mulligan, Vic Michaelis, Lou Wilson and Jacob Wysocki among this season’s cast. Reich executive produces with David Kerns, while Chloe Badner, Elaine Carroll, Ryan Creamer, Sam Geer, Mulligan and Paul Robalino serve as co-executive producers, and Jazzy Collins is the casting director. The show’s return also lands as Game Changer and Very Important People have recently been submitted for Emmys consideration in multiple categories, keeping Dropout visible as it pushes into a new season.
The details around Perlman’s appearance are still being held back, and that is the point. He arrives with a long TV and film résumé that includes Sons of Anarchy, Beauty and the Beast, Hand of God, Cape Fear, Poker Face, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Fallout, Hellboy, Nightmare Alley and Pacific Rim, but Episode 3 is being sold on the promise of discovery rather than a preview. For viewers, the real question now is not whether he shows up. It is what Game Changer has built around him when the episode finally lands.
