Mercury Podcasts Grows ‘PastMaster’ Franchise With Festive Episode, Always-On 2026.

Mercury Podcasts is expanding its slate around its history podcast “PastMaster,” announcing a Christmas special, a new mini-series, and a more aggressive production strategy heading into 2026 as the AI-powered comedy role-playing podcast continues to build momentum.

The London-based network says “PastMaster,” which blends time travel, improvisation, and an AI-driven game master, will release a Christmas special on Dec. 22 featuring the cast of the “Thots TV” podcast. The festive episode sends the hosts on a subversive mission to the Arctic in search of Father Christmas, where “all is not well” at Santa’s workshop.

Launched from what Mercury describes as a pub-chat hypothetical about whether someone could survive being dropped into the past with only modern knowledge, “PastMaster” has grown into a cult hit.

“I’ve always wanted to travel through time and now I can,” Parsons said.

Each episode will place hosts Ryan Mulchrone and Tan Parsons in a different historical era, overseen by an AI game master built using large language models that controls the rules, stakes, and outcomes.

“We’ve invented KFC in the Wild West, infiltrated Pablo Escobar’s cartel and even been to the year 3000 — though sadly they still live above water. We even sent Danny Dyer back to the big bang,” Mulchrone said. “There’s a lot of history for us still to explore.”

In addition to the holiday episode, Mercury has released a four-episode “PastMaster” mini-series showcasing what it calls the show’s most ambitious and chaotic experiments. Episodes include a future-set story with comedian Al Clayton grappling with AI and creativity, a live recording from Cheerful Earful 2025 set inside ancient Rome’s Colosseum, a Woodstock episode parodying AI’s cultural blind spots, and a darkly comic “Death Wish” installment centered on medieval nuns.

Mercury says the podcast’s format is built around a bespoke rule system handed to an AI model that acts as an all-powerful game master, deciding outcomes in an open-ended structure inspired by classic text-adventure games. The result, the network says, is a show that simultaneously rewrites history, skewers AI logic, and produces unpredictable comedy.

Looking ahead, Mercury plans to move “PastMaster” to an “always on” schedule in 2026, with core episodes every two weeks and additional “side quest” mini-episodes. The upcoming slate includes appearances from comedians such as Sunil Patel, Heidi Regan, Esther Manito, and Ashley Haden, along with storylines exploring regions and historical moments the show has yet to tackle, including China, Roanoke, the Indian subcontinent, and the race to the South Pole.

The expansion underscores Mercury Podcast Network’s broader strategy of backing independent, creator-driven shows. Founded by Liam Heffernan, the network positions itself as serving the “middle tier” of podcasting — indie productions that fall outside celebrity-backed deals but are ready to grow with added support and distribution. Mercury says “PastMaster” exemplifies that approach.