General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Sprung

Sprung is an American single-camera comedy television series created by Greg Garcia for Amazon Freevee, about a group of formerly incarcerated people who, released from prison early during the COVID-19 pandemic, band together to use their criminal expertise for good.¹^•² It ran for one season of nine episodes from August 19 to September 15, 2022.³

Key fact	Detail
Creator / network	Created, written, and directed (pilot) by Greg Garcia, the creator of My Name Is Earl and Raising Hope; aired on Amazon Freevee (then known as IMDb TV when greenlit)¹^•²
Run	One season, 9 episodes, streamed August 19 through September 15, 2022; premiered with two episodes³^•⁴
Premise	Jack, released early after 26 years in prison over a marijuana offense, moves in with his former cellmate Rooster, Rooster's mother Barb, and his former prison girlfriend Gloria; the group targets people selfishly taking advantage of others during the pandemic⁵^•⁶
Main cast	Garret Dillahunt (Jack), Martha Plimpton (Barb), Phillip Garcia (Rooster), Shakira Barrera (Gloria), James Earl (Melvin), Clare Gillies (Wiggles), Kate Walsh (Paula Tackleberry)¹
Production	Produced by Amazon Studios in association with 3 Arts Entertainment; executive producers Greg Garcia, Garret Dillahunt, Michael Rotenberg, and Jonathan Berry²^•³
Reception	82% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (11 reviews) and 97% on its audience Popcornmeter; Metascore 73; IMDb rating 8.2/10 from about 7,500 users⁷^•⁸^•⁹
Status	Ended after one season; TVLine reported in May 2025 that the show will not return for a second season⁴

Spoilers

Premise and setting

The story is set in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Jack (Garret Dillahunt) is released unexpectedly from a state co-ed prison, where he served 26 years for a marijuana offense, after a governor's order releases nonviolent convicts to relieve overcrowding and prevent outbreaks.¹⁰^•⁵ With nowhere to live, he moves in with his former cellmate Rooster (Phillip Garcia), Rooster's petty-criminal mother Barb (Martha Plimpton), and his former prison girlfriend Gloria (Shakira Barrera).¹³^•⁶ The quartet uses tips Jack learned during his incarceration to pull off heists, deciding to right society's wrongs by targeting people who selfishly take advantage of others during the pandemic.¹⁰^•⁶

The pandemic setting supplies much of the comedy. Dillahunt noted that Jack's 26-year absence means he last knew a world without cell phones or electric cars, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette review points to jokes about early-pandemic phenomena such as toilet-paper hoarding and a president suggesting ingesting bleach could help.¹⁰^•¹⁴

Episodes and structure

The nine episodes are titled "Chapter One" through "Chapter Nine." The season builds toward a planned robbery of a Congresswoman, the crew's largest job, which the finale brings to a head when the timeline of the heist is moved up and Jack comes face-to-face with the target.⁷^•⁶ Along the way, the crew robs Melvin (James Earl) and must repay him, Rooster courts trouble with a drug dealer while trying to win back Wiggles, and the crew must regroup after an art robbery goes wrong.¹⁵ The Post-Gazette describes the show as doubling as a heist series, "like Ocean's Eleven but perpetrated by well-meaning but bumbling petty criminals," with slickly edited capers, though it observes that the sitcom and crime elements do not always mesh smoothly.¹⁴

Ending and cancellation

The season was written to conclude its story. Garcia was still, as of June 3, 2023, "waiting to see if Amazon wants to do more," according to TVLine; Garret Dillahunt posted on March 23, 2024 that he had received an official call that there would be no second season, and TVLine reported in May 2025 that Sprung will not return.⁴

The series also reunited Garcia with two Raising Hope leads, Dillahunt and Plimpton, who played married couple Burt and Virginia on that show; TV Insider noted that Sprung lets them play off each other again in very different, over-the-top comic roles.³^•¹¹

Development and production

Amazon's free streaming service, then called IMDb TV, greenlit the series in April 2021 as a single-camera comedy produced by Amazon Studios in association with 3 Arts Entertainment, with Garcia set to direct the pilot.² Garcia told TV Insider that he wrote the show around March 2020, when reports that some jails were releasing prisoners early during COVID-19 gave him the premise for an idea he had already had about a character held unjustly for a long time for marijuana.¹⁰

The series is Garcia's first streaming series after network and cable comedies including My Name Is Earl, Raising Hope, The Guest Book, and Yes, Dear.¹¹ He said he wanted the show to look different from his previous work and shot it "like a movie," cross-boarding the entire thing, and deliberately cast almost entirely actors new to his productions, including Phillip Garcia, Shakira Barrera, James Earl, and Clare Gillies.¹¹^•¹² Casting additions of Kate Walsh, Camden Garcia, and Andre Jamal Kinney were announced in May 2022.¹³

Reception

Critical response was generally favorable. Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 73, with five of six collected reviews positive and one mixed.⁸ Rotten Tomatoes recorded an 82% Tomatometer from 11 reviews and a 97% audience score; its critics consensus said the pandemic setting is sometimes more of a drag than a springboard for fresh ideas, but credited the "bouncy sitcom" with Garcia's comedic hallmarks and a "hilarious Martha Plimpton."⁷ Individual critics highlighted Plimpton's performance (the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review called her "a crusty mama bear" who steals almost every scene) and the ensemble overall, while IndieWire was the dissenting review, giving a C and arguing the show "seems like it's trying to say something about everything."⁸^•⁷ On IMDb the series holds a weighted 8.2/10 from about 7,500 users, with the finale the highest-rated episode at 8.8.⁹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Series and fictional screen worlds › Scripted television and comedy series › Sitcom and comedy series › American sitcoms and comedy series › 2020s cable and streaming comedies

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

Notice something wrong?