A new series from the “Archer” and “Frisky Dingo” team is coming to HBO. The network has ordered two seasons of “Merrick & Treves,” a new half-hour animated comedy that is co-created and executive produced by Adam Reed, Casey Willis and Lucky Yates.
“Merrick & Treves” takes place inside Queen Victoria’s top secret Royal Temporal Constabulary and follows a team of unlikely heroes as they travel back in time in an attempt to stop the serial killer Jack the Ripper. It’s probably not a coincidence that the man who came to be known as The Elephant Man, Joseph Merrick, and the surgeon who worked closely with him throughout his life, Sir Frederick Treves, share their names with the titular characters of HBO’s upcoming series.
The comedy comes from TFC Productions. Joel Begleiter will executive produce, and Kelly Wu will serve as co-executive producer.
“Adam, Casey and Lucky are exceptional comedic talents whom we have admired for years. We couldn’t be more excited to team up with them to bring the wholly original ‘Merrick & Treves to HBO audiences,” Amy Gravitt, executive vice president of HBO Programming and head of HBO and HBO Max Comedy Series, said.
“The three of us are beyond excited to have found a home for ‘Merrick & Treves at HBO,” Reed, Willis and Yates said in a statement. “We can’t wait to start working with the creative team behind so many of our favorite shows. It’s actually quite daunting, now that we think about it. Like, holy shit, y’all. HBO.”
Released on FX in 2009, “Archer” developed a passionate following over the course of its 14 seasons. The series received critical acclaim, winning four Primetime Emmy Awards, four Critics Choice Awards and scoring 5 Annie Award nominations. Though the comedy was always known for its stylish settings, rapid-fire dialogue and love of callbacks, in its later seasons, “Archer” proved it was unafraid of reinventing itself, a rarity for adult animation. Over the course of its many seasons, the series relocated from New York to Los Angeles for a time, changed the central agency that employed the team and released three wildly different homage seasons while Sterling Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) was stuck in a coma.
This isn’t the first major announcement HBO has made after Warner Bros. Discovery was officially acquired by Skydance. The network also announced a “Crazy Rich Asians” TV series last week after years of anticipation around this franchise.
But this does mark a surprising (but welcome) move into adult animation for HBO, which has largely stuck to live-action while HBO Max has been home to adult animated series like “Harley Quinn.”
Reed is represented by UTA, TFC Management and Yorn Levine.
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