John Oliver Releases Trailer for New Season

On Wednesday, January 29, John Oliver released the official trailer for Season 12 of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

The trailer announces that the Emmy-winning series will return on Sunday, February 16, on HBO. “With the challenges ahead, it feels like we need [Oliver’s] voice more than ever,” the trailer shared.

This sentiment is widely shared among Oliver’s fans, with commenters writing, “When the world needed him most, he returned,” and “John has DESPERATELY been missed. Let’s hope the country doesn’t implode before he comes back.”

HBO describes Last Week Tonight with John Oliver as, “A satirical, insightful, and meticulously researched look at current events in the U.S. and around the globe, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver features Oliver’s hilarious and expertly honed perspective on today’s pressing political, social, and cultural issues, plus lesser-reported topics that inform and entertain.”

The series is known for its deep analyses of institutional and societal problems while blending sharp humor with meticulous research. The new season’s promo suggests that Oliver will once again address the return of the Trump administration, among other major political and global issues.

The trailer teases, “John Oliver is back and more alive than ever, and he’s ready to ask some hard questions and deliver some hard truths. That is, if this upcoming year doesn’t kill him.”

The new season’s poster also features the phrases, “Here we go again,” and “Days without incident: 0.”

Although the promos hint at a chaotic season ahead, viewers shouldn’t expect Last Week Tonight to lean into nihilism. In an interview with The New York Times, Oliver addressed this concern:

“Nihilism is completely useless. The coward’s way out. So you work through that. And I have found, generally, that the light at the end of the tunnel, albeit that light might be smaller than you would like it to be ideally—is that there are activists making small, incremental progress on the ground, and that progress is really, really important.”

Longtime fans of the show know that Oliver can take on heavy topics, such as income inequality or the  West Bank, while maintaining a comedic edge. His ability to satirize real-world events was evident when he offered Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas a $2.4 million Prevost Marathon Motor Coach in exchange for resigning from the Supreme Court.

The trailer for Season 12 of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver is available to watch below.