Mystery Science Theater 3000 star Jonah Ray dishes on Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Gauntlet and the ongoing evolution of the Netflix series.

Thanksgiving is going to be different on the Satellite of Love. Netflix‘s Mystery Science Theater 3000 returns Thursday with a brand new season of six episodes designed to tickle every movie and TV fan’s funny bone.

In Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Gauntlet, Jonah and the Bots are stuck in an even crazier situation: having to watch a half-dozen bad movies, one after the other. Can they get through all of them? And hey, wasn’t Jonah dead at the end of last season?

FanSided connected with Jonah Ray to dish on the new season of MST3K and talk about what it means for him to be hosting as the venerable franchise celebrates its 30th anniversary.

Find out what he had to tell us below, then don’t miss the brand new season when it begins this Thursday only on Netflix.

FanSided: What does it mean to you to not only be the host of Mystery Science Theater 3000, but to be hosting MST3K on its 30th anniversary?

Jonah Ray: The whole thing is just surreal and I try, honestly, to not think about it too much because it overwhelms me. When I was a kid I always thought, “I want to be on Mystery Science Theater.” Then for it to come back and have it happen, and then to coincide with the 30th anniversary, it’s so surreal and it seems too big to be true.

FanSided: How do you develop your sense of humor for the show? Keeping that history but also making your own MST3K era?

Jonah Ray: The show itself formed a lot of humor and it’s already kind of there as an extension of the show … I feel like it’s an extension of the show’s sensibilities, because we loved it so much as kids. But at the same time, we all have developed our own places in comedy over that time.

So it’s kind of an amalgamation of those two elements — of knowing and loving the show and its sensibilities, but being like, “Well, this is how I am on air. This is how I view the show.” Because everyone views the show differently. That’s something I realized talking about the show.

Some people will say, “Oh I loved it. It was such a nerdy show.” I go, “Okay, that’s interesting.” Because when I watched it, I thought it was a cool comedy show. Everyone kind of has their own view of it. So my view, I unintentionally bring it; that wouldn’t be there originally.

FanSided: This is your second season in the role, so was it easier for you the second time around?

Jonah Ray: Completely. We had to come and pretty much make the show and make it familiar enough for people who used to watch it, enjoy it and accept it. And try to do our spin on it. But then it was a lot of work, and it was really serious. I look at clips from the first season and to me I look scared. And I was hesitant. And I was worried as I’m going through that first season.

Looking at the [new season], it was more confident. Everyone seems a bit more sure of themselves: with the way they wrote, with the way they performed, with the way I did stuff. It’s just a bit more of a steady hand.

FanSided: Where does The Gauntlet pick up? Because Mystery Science Theater 3000 left Jonah, the character, in a bit of a tight spot at the end of last season.

Jonah Ray: We play with that a bit. Everyone keeps on asking like, “Why are you back? You died at the end of last season.” And I tell them well, if you look at the credits of that last episode, you see me walking in my spacesuit on the hull of the Satellite of Love.

With the elements of the marriage [to Kinga], we play with the idea of it’s just a show, you should just relax. There’s certain things you kind of let go. So, it starts off with me thinking that we really need to wrap up this storyline, and other people going well, we don’t really have to, it’s not really that important.

FanSided: The challenge is for the Satellite of Love crew to sit through these six terrible films, but has hosting MST3K changed how you watch movies personally?

Jonah Ray: I let things go a lot more than I used to. I’ve been making TV shows and pitching comedy and all kinds of stuff in production for a long time now. And it’s one of those things where, it’s hard to make something. It’s hard to make these things. So now watching these movies and people trying their best with the part, I’m much more forgiving than I ever have been before.

FanSided: What’s your favorite part of this season?

Jonah Ray: I think everyone really came into their own. I love what Rob Schrab brought to it. He’s a co-director that came in. He’s an old friend of ours, an incredible director, and he brought this visual frenetic energy to the show that people should really take note of. And notice the pacing. I think it just feels funnier, it feels better and we’re all really, really proud of it.

FanSided: What effect do you think Netflix has had on Mystery Science Theater 3000? Because it seems like this season, and really the series, lends itself to streaming.

Jonah Ray: It’s built for that and it’s nice. People are so used to having all the DVDs, like a collection of DVDs or the tapes, when they’d circulate the tapes. People are used to just sort of having them on hand. So I think it’s great. And for telling stories, for callbacks and self referential [material] from last season, I think people will be able to pick up on those a lot faster because they’ll be able to watch them all.

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Gauntlet releases Thanksgiving Day on Netflix. For more TV interviews and news, follow the Television category at FanSided.