Netflix’s ‘The Hawk’ Highlights Will Ferrell’s Hilarious Golf Tale and Family Redemption

Will Ferrell in ‘The Hawk’ on Netflix.

Photo by Colleen E Hayes/Netflix

Will Ferrell declared, “Comedy is free speech!” at the packed premiere for his new Netflix series The Hawk. Clearly animated, he urged attendees to spread the word in hopes of securing a second season.

Ferrell teams up with fellow Saturday Night Live alumni Molly Shannon and Chris Parnell for a 10‑episode golf comedy brimming with absurd humor and outrageous antics. Yet beneath its goofy exterior lies an unexpectedly heartfelt narrative about family, forgiveness, and second chances.

Ferrell portrays Lonnie “The Hawk” Hawkins, a once‑prominent golf legend desperate to reclaim the glory he lost two decades earlier. After a spectacular decline in 2004 that cost him his marriage to Stacy (Shannon) and, in many ways, his relationship with their son Lance (Jimmy Tatro), he now strives for redemption.

Now, under the world’s watchful eyes, Lonnie is embarking on an improbable comeback, pursuing golf’s Grand Slam while attempting to reconnect with Lance, who has followed in his father’s footsteps to become a professional golfer.

His longtime rival, Golden Fisk (Luke Wilson), stands in his way, while his unlikely ally, new caddie Sam (Fortune Feimster), knows virtually nothing about golf but remains fiercely loyal to Lonnie.

At its core, *The Hawk* is less about golf and more about a son yearning for his father’s approval—a love that he both receives and struggles to fully express.

It was fitting that Netflix staged the series’ press day at the breathtaking Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, California, where the final two episodes were filmed as Lonnie makes his final push toward redemption.

Just days before the July 16 premiere, Ferrell, Shannon, Wilson, Feimster, and Tatro sat down for interviews, making clear that creating *The Hawk* was as entertaining as watching it.

In my first interview, Ferrell and Shannon acknowledged that audiences might be surprised by the emotional depth hidden beneath the comedy. As parents, they drew on their own experiences to portray two ex‑spouses navigating the complexities of co‑parenting.

Ferrell described Lonnie’s paternal challenges, likening parenting to being on ice skates: one never knows whether a recent discussion or decision was appropriate, sometimes feeling it was excessive or insufficient. He observed that Stacy, not Lonnie, wrestles with this constantly. Lonnie, a bit of a wild card, cannot help himself; his ADHD makes these parenting dilemmas resurface.

Shannon relished the complexity of Stacy’s character, finding the role particularly rewarding.

“I love performing scenes where I say, ‘You need to win. Here’s what’s going to happen,’ and actively try to manipulate him. That was truly enjoyable.”

Stacy is equally driven to expand her beverage brand, “Teed Off,” and both actors acknowledge that her ambitions sometimes eclipse her maternal instincts regarding Lance’s success.

Shannon wonders about her character: “She believes she’s far superior to Lonnie—but is she?”

One of *The Hawk*’s greatest strengths is how its comedy emerges from specific, quirky character details.

Lonnie, for example, has an inexplicable love of pickles and white wine. Ferrell laughed while explaining that both quirks originated well before a script was written.

“We typically begin with a general concept, even if it’s just a joke idea. I said, ‘I don’t know how we’ll make this make sense, but I want Lonnie to get his hand caught in a pickle jar at some point.’ To justify that, we gave Lonnie a genuine fondness for pickles.”

The white‑wine obsession arose just as randomly.

“I was driving one day and thought, ‘Shouldn’t Lonnie only drink white wine?’ It’s an intriguing choice—not very masculine, yet specific, and he manages to make it look cool in a strange way,” Ferrell said, mimicking his character’s wine‑glass hold.

He credits the series’ 10‑episode format for allowing these quirky choices to evolve.

The laughs weren’t limited to the finished series; Ferrell and Shannon admitted they often struggled to keep straight faces while filming.

“Will can really make me laugh,” Shannon said.

Ferrell confessed that he often got “the giggles,” especially while working with Feimster.

“There’s a scene where she ferociously, blindly has my back, and suddenly starts yelling at someone. I thought, ‘We’re both sociopaths—what’s happening?’ We cracked up, wondering where she came up with that—perhaps when she called someone a ‘nut boy.’”

In a separate interview, Tatro, Feimster, and Wilson echoed the sentiment that making *The Hawk* was as much fun as it appears.

Tatro, who took his first golf lesson for the role, serves as the perfect straight man opposite Ferrell’s wonderfully unhinged performance and emerges as one of the show’s biggest scene‑stealers.

“I tried to play Lance as seriously as possible. He isn’t the funny type and never gets the joke. You must portray such characters straightforwardly; the more serious and committed you are, the more the audience can laugh at you. Lance isn’t in on the joke, so you simply play it like a drama.”

Feimster said that what initially seemed like another outrageous comedic role ultimately became something far more meaningful.

“When you first start the show, you see another ridiculous character, like Will’s, who’s absurd and does crazy things. It was rewarding as an actor to let my character develop an emotional arc with Will’s character and with my own relationship with my dad on the show. I think it revealed a genuine friendship between Lonnie and Sam.”

Wilson, meanwhile, embraced every aspect of his flamboyant rival Golden Fisk, including dyeing his hair bright blond—a decision that surprised nearly everyone around him.

“Yeah, people thought I was having a nervous breakdown. I said at the start that I wanted to dye the character’s hair gold.”

*The Hawk* delivers exactly what fans expect from a Will Ferrell comedy: big laughs, ridiculous characters, and delightfully offbeat humor.

But its biggest surprise isn’t the comedy; it’s the heart. Beneath the outrageous antics lies a genuinely moving story about family, redemption, second chances, and reconnecting with those who matter most.

This emotional core, combined with Ferrell’s signature brand of absurdity and a cast that clearly relished every minute on set, makes *The Hawk* every bit as enjoyable to watch as it was to create. If audiences embrace it as the cast did, they’ll be laughing all the way to a well‑deserved second season.

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