The world always ends sometime around 2019 and Hatchetfield is somehow always at the epicenter, which pushes PEIP in this timeline to take decisive action.
- Jossed. PEIP doesn't appear at all in the show.
- Then again, NPMD is not, and was never going to be, the end of the series, so a plot element like this is still up for grabs for that of the real final installment of Hatchetfield.
It will be about people who know they're "side characters" in other people's stories without having anything interesting happen to them themselves — "nerdy prudes" — and who resent this fact.
- Jossed.
It seems unlikely Bill and Alice would get that heated over the possibility of Alice dating Grace Chastity if she weren't into girls, and her conversely not being into boys (but having one be into her) would fit HCB's apparent Butt-Monkey status.
- Half-jossed. The leading man, is in fact, Hot Chocolate Boy/Peter Spankoffski, and Grace is a prominent character, but neither of them are gay.
It would fit thematically with HCB, all of them having annoying voices that seem to fit horribly with being lead characters in a musical. Grace Chastity might also have a high-pitched nasal voice like the one Lauren Lopez used for young Esther in The Solve-It Squad.
- While the idea of a high-school-aged Sherman seemed to go against the mechanics of Hatchetfield's timelines following revelations in Nightmare Time season 1 — but season 2 reveals that Sherman can gain the power to de-age himself, making the notion of a teenaged Sherman appearing in a future show not quite so Jossed as we might think! As for the Obnoxious Teen, with the timeline having moved forward he may no longer be in high school.
- Richie Lipschitz, played by Jon Matteson, was originally intended to be the Obnoxious Teen, but when Joey Richter had to take over the role of Peter Spankoffski, Richie had to become a new character.
I just think it would be neat.
- It would be ironic to have Alice's actual girlfriend Deb and the girl her dad would rather she be dating be played by the same person.
- Jossed; Nightmare Time Season 2 sees Angela Giarratana cast in the role of Grace... as well as the character's surname being Chasity, not Chastity.
- Confirmed! While, as in both predecessors, the characters' triumph at having overcome the trauma they've gone through is cut short by a final terrifying twist, it's by far the least apocalyptic of these endings.
Many have pointed out that The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals feels like alien invasion/zombie horror from the 60s and 70s (Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Night of the Living Dead (1968)), while the emphasis on cults, Biblical apocalypse, and Cosmic Horror themes makes Black Friday feel more like the 80s and 90s (The Omen, Rosemary's Baby, Twin Peaks, IT). If NPMD follows the trend then it'll be about the late 90s/early 2000s revival of interest in the slasher (Scream) and Ghost Story (The Ring).
A slasher-style story would bring the scale of the story back down to the Closed Circle of a small group of teenagers in Hatchetfield, and the slasher being an undead revenant like Jason would fill in the P in PEIP, a Paranormal threat, after the meteor in TGWDLM, was Extraterrestrial and Wiggly in BF was Interdimensional). It also sounds like the title of Nerdy Prudes Must Die! is a parody of the Final Girl, with this slasher being offended by the concept and specifically targeting potential Final Girls for being "nerdy prudes".
- This theory gained a lot of support after Team Starkid did a live-streamed reading of Scream for their fans during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic.
- Confirmed. Team Starkid describes the musical as a 'teen-slasher horror-comedy'.
- Black Friday is after Halloween (Halloween is Oct. 31, and Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving, i.e. the fourth Friday in November). That said, NPMD sounds a lot like it's going to be a slasher pastiche and there's a grand tradition of slashers taking place on Halloween.
- The Halloween season is never mentioned in NPMD, however, Nick Lang revealed that Nightmare Time 3 is intended to be Hatchetfield's official Halloween Episode, including the story "Devil's Night" which, after NPMD and "Abstinence Camp", is the third installment of the "nerdy prudes" trilogy and the one based on the Halloween series (to NPMD's A Nightmare on Elm Street and Abstinence Camp's Friday the 13th).
The line in "Monsters and Men (Reprise)", "If Wiggly is burnt, who knows what we've unlocked?" implies major long-term consequences to humanity's ability to defy Wiggly on Black Friday, even if the show seems to have a Downer Ending with World War III. Incorporating the "Groundhog Day" Loop theory above, the idea may be that humanity is collectively learning and growing across the various timelines as the apocalypses happen, and there will be a timeline where — as John MacNamara's ability to challenge Wiggly and Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence implies — humans finally break through and can challenge the gods on their home turf. (It's the only way the message of the song "Monsters of Men" ends up not feeling like a cruel joke.)
- This is an interesting theory and all, but the actual line was "if Wiggly is birthed who knows what we've unlocked".
So far, the shows in the Hatchetfield trilogy have dealt with one of the phenomena mentioned in PEIP's acronym (Paranormal, Extraterrestrial, and Interdimensional Phenomena) respectively- TGWDLM was about musical extraterrestrials, and Black Friday was about an interdimensional Cthulhu Expy. If Nerdy Prudes follows this pattern, it will deal with the paranormal- and if the slasher parody theory above is correct, it may end up as a parody of movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street, or The Blair Witch Project, where the killer is a ghost or other supernatural entity.
- The villain of NPMD is indeed a ghost of some sort, though not one whose actions become apocalyptic enough for PEIP to step in.
A big stage show would be a more auspicious moment to introduce Starkid's first non-binary character played by a new, non-binary actor than an episode of Nightmare Time, and it seems strongly hinted that NPMD will take place at Hatchetfield High and involve a mostly-teenage cast. Ziggs being "really cool" would make them a contrast with the two "nerdy prudes" we've been told will be the main characters, Grace Chastity and Hot Chocolate Boy, and possibly set them up as a Foil.
- Jossed; Ziggs debuts in "Perky's Buds" and is now a college student, making it unlikely for them to play a role in this high school story.
- Half confirmed. Ziggs appears in the pro shot for a brief cameo.
It seems there's a pattern by now: even-numbered stories (Black Friday, "Watcher World", "Time Bastard", "The Witch in the Web") have the Lords in Black in them, odd-numbered stories (The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals, "The Hatchetfield Ape-Man", "Forever & Always", "Jane's a Car") do not. They might be involved—as their magic is employed in "Jane's a Car" and Word of God has hint-dropped that one was responsible for TGWDLM—but they won't appear in person (or, well, doll) and the story won't be about them, since NPMD was supposed to be the third installment in the series. So it'll be grand in scope like the two-stage musicals rather than the intimate horror of Nightmare Time stories, but not advance Hatchetfield's cosmic Myth Arc.
- This got one step closer being to confirming when Nick Lang revealed the concept of NPMD is both the "silliest" of the premises for the full-length Hatchetfield musicals and conceived before any of the Hatchetfield Myth Arc was established in Black Friday, and Jossed the common fan theory that Nibblenephim/"Nibbly" is the Greater-Scope Villain of NPMD. (He is, instead, the villain of a later idea for a film that may end up recycled as a Nightmare Time episode, that episode possibly being "Honey Queen")
- Jossed to hell and back; NPMD is not only the first time that the Lords in Black appear in human form, but the first in which all five have a speaking part.
- That being said, that may not have been the plan when Nick first spoke about the premise; the Lords debuting as a group to the song "The Summoning" was originally intended to occur in Workin' Boys, so earlier plans for NPMD may well have not included the Lords at all.
Most fan castings for Grace Chastity pick an older veteran actress for her — Lauren Lopez, Jaime Lyn Beatty, Kim Whalen — and while all of them certainly can pass for teenagers if they have to, the whole reason Mariah Rose Faith was cast in The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals (and Angela Giarratana was cast to replace her in Black Friday when she was unavailable due to being cast in Mean Girls) is that they wanted an actress in her 20s to more realistically portray a high-school-aged main character. This is the same reason 20something Robert Manion was cast as Ethan Green and the "Hot Chocolate Boy" — both of whom, unlike Joey Richter's "Obnoxious Teen" character, are meant as main characters the audience is supposed to get invested in.
It seems like the most sensible thing to do would be to have Mariah or Angela play Grace in Nerdy Prudes Must Die, the way Mariah was originally meant to play Lex as a Contrasting Sequel Main Character to Alice in Black Friday... but that permanently limits the interactions Grace can have with other characters, meaning she can now never be onstage at the same time as Lex or Alice without awkward Acting for Two shenanigans, and with Hatchetfield now being a large Shared Universe with Web Video side stories accompanying the musicals, that could be awkward.
That's why it's possibly making a virtue of necessity that NPMD has been so long delayed — long enough for Kendall to age out of playing a "child" character and into a "teen" role. (If the COVID-19 Pandemic should end on the most optimistic possible timeline, by early 2021, then Kendall will be 15 before a stage show could go up; more likely it'll go up after she's turned 16.) The Lang Brothers in Nightmare Time seem to have enjoyed giving actors the chance to show off their range and play contrasting characters, especially the newer ones — Angela playing English Rose Lucy to contrast with Lex, for instance — and "nerdy prude" Grace Chastity would certainly be a huge departure from playing Hannah (and would allow Kendall to play someone slightly less weird and closer to her real-life personality).
- Jossed; Nightmare Time Season 2 sees Angela Giarratana cast in the role of Grace... as well as the character's surname being Chasity, not Chastity.
Nick Lang had previously stated that Ted's surname was a "spoiler", later clarifying after Season 1 of Nightmare Time, which revealed Ted's surname, that this was true before the pandemic disrupted the schedule of the Hatchetfield saga. Presumably, Hot Chocolate Boy's starring role in NPMD would have openly used his surname, Spankoffski, with Ted being revealed to share this surname later. Instead, the reverse will be true.
As it was widely known that HCB would be, at the very least, among NPMD's main characters, fans took Bill's mention of Ted having a nerdy younger brother in "Watcher World", along with HCB's tender interactions with Ted and Charlotte in particular in the final number of Black Friday, to hint toward this theory.
- Confirmed! Hot Chocolate Boy ascends to a leading role in the Nightmare Time story "Abstinence Camp", and he is Peter Spankoffski.
As of this writing, two cast members have been announced for NPMD: Corey Dorris will be reprising the role of Mayor Solomon Lauter, who appeared briefly in two NMT2 stories and Lauren Lopez will be Ruth Fleming, a new character described as "such a loser that telemarketers hang up on her". My theories relating to the show's cast:
- Based on the assumption that she gets telemarketers and that she's one of the earlier cast members announced - assuming they're being unveiled from least to most important - Ruth will be an adult character rather than one of the high-school-aged "nerdy prudes".
- We can virtually guarantee headlining roles from Angela Giarratana as Grace and Mariah Rose Faith as Stephanie.
- Joey Richter will reprise the role of Brad Callahan, a Jerk Jock seen briefly in "Yellow Jacket". As it was originally intended for Peter to make his proper debut here and reveal Ted to be his brother later, Ted will not feature in this story — even though we know of their relationship now, he will have no plot-relevant role to play.
- Kim Whalen will return as Miss Holloway, having changed her name to Miss Holliday and becoming a guidance counselor in "Killer Track", this will be the status quo at the beginning of NPMD's timeline as well. If Miss Holliday appears, we can probably count on Curt Mega returning as Duke as well.
- With Lauren's main part announced, if Hannah appears, Kendall Nicole will return to the role. Though as Hannah is a freshman, who was only seen as a classmate of Brad and Steph in shop class, she may be Out of Focus if she appears at all; likewise for Dylan Saunders as Tom appearing in his role of shop class teacher.
And this all leaves the question of what will become of Peter Spankoffski, the show's long-presumed main protagonist. He was played by Robert Manion in his early-bird cameos in TGWDLM and Black Friday, and by NickLang in "Abstinence Camp". While the announcement of Robert's dismissal left the door open for his return to StarKid, he seems to have burned that bridge as of the announcement of StarKid Returns, going off on an angry tirade against the group. And Nick tries to avoid acting especially when he's solo directing, so it's likely this show will see Hatchetfield's third, and presumably definitive, Peter Spankoffski portrayal. Two guesses come to mind:
- The announcement teaser of NPMD featured Curt Mega as a nerd. While Nick made it clear afterward that Curt was playing a "generic nerd" and that the show had not yet been cast, Curt fit the bill well enough that that needed to be said, so he may be placed in the role after all.
- Jae Hughes has the trim physique of the previous two Peters; after proving themself too cool for school in the roles of Ziggs and Kale, they might flip the script and make for a nice gawky Peter.
As of January 11, it would seem the entire cast has been announced:
- Mariah Rose Faith as Stephanie Lauter and Angela Giarratana as Grace Chasity, treated as such a given that they never actually received a formal cast announcement.
- As mentioned above, the first two cast members announced were Corey Dorris as Mayor Solomon Lauter and Lauren Lopez as a new character, Ruth Fleming.
- It is Joey Richter who will be filling the shoes of Peter Spankoffski.
- Bryce Charles will be making her onstage Hatchetfield debut as Detective Shapiro.
- Jon Matteson as Richie Lipschitz, a character originally intended to have been Joey Richter's "Obnoxious Teen" as as Ascended Extra before Joey being cast as Peter made that impossible - amusingly, similar circumstances as what led to the creation of the Obnoxious Teen in the first place.
- Months later, three more cast members were announced, despite it having been previously claimed that NPMD would have only eight cast members just like TGWDLM - Will Branner, a StarKid newcomer who previously worked with Mariah on Mean Girls, is playing The Bully, Max Jägerman (cue further WMG on what then became of Brad Callahan in this timeline; both are described as Hatchetfield High's star quarterback, but Max seems like a much more dangerous and serious character); and Kim Whalen and Curt Mega are playing Grace's parents.
- Two understudies, newcomers Virginia Vass and Hamilton Davis, were also announced; YouTube viewers will likely never see them, but StarKid learned the value of understudies after both previous stage productions required someone to unexpectedly step in one night.
- She's from the pilgrim times, though. Grace has zero reason to go back in time.
- Who says she has zero reason? What she does have, in this timeline, is the Black Book and a friendly relationship with Wiggly. Why wouldn't an older Grace want to Make Wrong What Once Went Right and realize her destiny of becoming Willabella? Also, it's Grace. She'd have every reason in the world to travel to a time and place where everyone is a prudish puritan. And don't forget that any time travel to before Hannah's birth in October 2005 affects every timeline; only one Grace, not necessarily the one from this timeline, has to go back to become every Willabella.
- This is possibly supported by the fact that Max noticeably acts WAY more over the top after he dies. He goes from merely being a boisterous, hollering asshole to constantly calling people bitches, spouting one-liners and beat-boxing as he stops time in order to prevent Pete's sacrifice.
- Considering the whole reason he comes back at all is the fact that the house is one of the five Black Altars...
- Expanding on this theory, the Lords in Black could well have influenced Max specifically to necessitate their use to subdue him, making the entire play a Xanatos Gambit on their parts. Max succeeding with his rampage would be fine with them as they get a fun show out of it, but by being invoked to stop him, they get both Max's soul and the corruption of Grace. Either way, they only stand to benefit.
You might be wondering how can a mere ghost-however murderous-pose a threat to nearly godlike beings? Well, it's less an existential threat and more to their efforts to enter reality. You see, the main way they can get a foothold in our world is via followers-the kind of people who read old books and don dark robes when they gather. People who some might call occultists or sorcerers-but to Max, they're something else. They're nerds, however much power they may accumulate or what prestige they may have obtained currying the favor of the Lords in Black. The Lords in Black technically don't need their followers (at least not in a Gods Need Prayer Badly sense) but it seems plausible that if a psychotic ghost started going around killing everyone whom he deemed a nerd it could put a sizeable dent in their following and weaken their efforts overall, so when they got something-even if it's not their first choice-they jumped at the chance to get rid of Max.
