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Chad Kroeger of Nickelback performs during a concert at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 3.David Dermer/The Associated Press
Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger never made it as a wise man and couldn’t cut it as poor man stealing.
But now the Alberta-born singer and guitarist is going to give a new side gig a go: Acting.
Letterkenny and Shoresy creator Jared Keeso has cast Kroeger as one of the leads of I Kill the Bear, his latest six-episode, half-hour television comedy for Crave.
The hitherto untitled New Metric Media project for Bell Media’s streamer announced its name and cast on Wednesday as production began in Sudbury, Ontario.
According to the one-line plot summary in the press release, the show will be “about a family of bear wranglers for film sets, and why – after 100 years – they’ve decided to make this film their last.”
As is the case with his hockey comedy Shoresy, Keeso has leaned into the sports world for actors for I Kill the Bear by casting Georges St-Pierre, the Montreal-based mixed martial arts legend.
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St-Pierre has ample experience on screen at this point – having played Batroc in the Marvel film and television universe since Captain America: Winter Soldier.
“We always have our dream cast in mind and hope they’re into it, and this time they were,” New Metric Media executive producer Kara Haflidson said by e-mail of the casting of Kroeger and St-Pierre. “We’ve already had a ton of laughs with these guys.”
Frederick Roy, the former American Hockey League player (and son of NHL Hall of Famer, Patrick) who has a role on Shoresy, is another sports figure who will also be back on screen in this new Keeso project.
Others in I Kill the Bear’s announced cast included East Coast comedy legend Jonathan Torrens (Trailer Park Boys), as well as Adrian Holmes (19-2), Sarah Maude Beauchesne (Bellefleur), Kristin Kreuk (Murder in a Small Town), Megha Sandhu (Painkiller), Scott Thompson (Kids in the Hall) and past Keeso collaborators Dylan Playfair (Reilly on Letterkenny) and Eliana Jones (Mercedes on Shoresy).
Kroeger is the only of the announced cast making his acting debut in I Kill the Bear – though that does come with an asterisk given the singer, songwriter and guitarist did appear as himself once in an episode of The Jim Gaffigan show.
Produced by New Metric Media, in association with Play Fun Games, the series is set for a 2026 release on Crave.
