Peacock’s ‘DIG’: Inside Amy Poehler and Michael Schur’s New Comedy

The collaboration renewed a creative relationship that began when Poehler and Schur overlapped at Saturday Night Live and continued through seven seasons of Parks and Recreation.

Poehler, who plays Elise and serves as an executive producer and writer, said their shared process is particularly suited to ensemble comedy because it favors character, collaboration, and the strongest idea in the room.

J.J. Philbin joined the project as co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer after Schur recognized that her comedy background and perspective were what the four-woman ensemble needed.

“The idea of working with Amy and creating a comedy from the ground up with them was too exciting to pass up,” Philbin said.

^{DIG -- Pictured: (l-r) Fina Strazza as Patty, Antonia Thomas as Clare, Amy Poehler as Elise, Geraldine Viswanathan as Dylan -- (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/Peacock)}

Meet the Cast of Peacock’s DIG

Amy Poehler stars as Elise alongside Hugh Laurie as Dr. Neville Wycombe, Geraldine Viswanathan as Dylan, Antonia Thomas as Clare, and Fina Strazza as Patty.

The casting process combined early creative choices with auditions and chemistry reads, while table reads helped the writers hear each performer’s comic rhythm before production.

Schur said Laurie was an early choice for Neville, while Strazza, Thomas, and Jon Pointing emerged through auditions and chemistry readings.

For Poehler, the ensemble, setting, and mystery ultimately serve the same purpose: creating a group of funny, specific characters whose lives audiences want to keep following.

^{DIG -- Pictured: (l-r) Hugh Laurie as Neville, Amy Poehler as Elise -- (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/Peacock)}

Why DIG Is Set at an Archaeological Site in Greece

The adaptation retains Excavation’s archaeological setting, central relationships, and sense of summer-camp adventure while creating a new mystery and a different artifact for the series.

For the creative team, archaeology also offered a way to turn the characters’ inner lives into something physical: They dig through the ground while reluctantly digging through the choices and experiences that shaped them.

“It’s hard to dig a hole in the ground, and it’s also hard to dig back through your own life to figure out what you did and why you did it,” Schur said, recalling Poehler’s early pitch for the series.

That metaphor gives the half-hour comedy room for jokes, friendship, and mystery while keeping its character conflicts grounded in the different stages of life represented by Elise, Clare, Dylan, and Patty.

^{DIG -- Pictured: (l-r) Amy Poehler as Elise, Kayvan Novak as Stavros -- (Photo by: Colleen Hayes/Peacock)}

How DIG recreated Greece on the Universal Studios Lot 

DIG was filmed primarily on the Universal Studios Lot in Los Angeles, with production also traveling to southern Italy and Athens for selected sequences.

Production designer Dan Bishop and executive producer-director Morgan Sackett researched working archaeological sites to connect the stage, backlot, and European locations through consistent texture, color, depth, and detail.

Sackett visited an active site near Sparta with archaeological adviser Joseph Rife, then supplied research footage showing students excavating, measuring, and sorting artifacts.

On the Universal Studios Lot, the production reshaped a field and sculpted trenches to create the dig site, while nearby permanent sets housed the hotel and laboratory.

The art department also built the discoveries at the center of the story, combining research, digital models, hand carving, scenic treatment, and advice about how ancient objects should look.

“Dan’s work is stunning,” Schur said. “What we had pictured and then what he made was so much better than our vision of it.”

How to watch DIG

DIG premieres Nov. 23, with all 10 episodes streaming exclusively on Peacock.