James Van Der Beek Set to Play Diplo in Viceland’s First-Ever Scripted Show, ‘What Would Diplo Do?’

Viceland has announced a new TV series called What Would Diplo Do? Starring Dawson’s Creek alum James Van Der Beek, the actor will play a fictionalized Diplo as “guy who can bring 60,000 people to their feet… but kind of sucks one-on-one.”. Inspired by a Mad Decent Block Party promo video where Van Der Beek portrayed Diplo, the show will be written by Van Der Beek and will be “shepherded” by Oscar-winning director and Viceland Co-President Spike Jonze. Described as Louie meets WorldStarHipHop, the show will begin production next month with a premiere slated for later this year.

This is the first time Viceland has gotten into scripted shows. According to Spike Jonze, “When James was in the office a few weeks ago, he told me the story lines he had sketched out, they were, of course, funny; one even got me emotional which made it that much more funny. This idea has gotten inside James which makes me really excited to see what he makes and happy to have it on our channel.”