Hugh Laurie To Star In Armando Iannucci’s Sci-fi Comedy Pilot ‘Avenue 5’
Hugh Laurie will be reteaming with ‘Veep’ creator Armando Iannucci as he takes the lead in upcoming sci-fi comedy pilot ‘Avenue 5’ for HBO.
Not a lot is known about the new show, other than it is a comedy, and its set in the future, mostly in space… Laurie will play Ryan Clark, the charming and in-control American captain of the ‘Avenue 5’ spaceship.
The show comes from Armando Iannucci, who has mainly focused on brilliantly funny political satire up until this point, so it’s possible we may see some politics leaking into the new show. Along with being the creator of the multi Emmy winning ‘Veep’ and the BAFTA-winning ‘The Thick Of It’, he’s also responsible for ‘The Day Today’ with Chris Morris and ‘Alan Partridge’ with Steve Coogan. His most recent project was the film, ‘The Death of Stalin’, which was comedy-drama about the Soviet power struggles following the death of the infamous leader.
Hugh Laurie is, of course, best known for his roles on ‘House’, ‘The Night Manager’, and being one half of ‘Fry and Laurie’. He previously worked with Iannucci when he had a recurring guest role on ‘Veep’ as Senator Tom James. He’s due to be seen next on George Clooney’s adaptation of Joseph Heller’s celebrated novel ‘Catch-22‘, which comes to Channel 4 in 2019. Assuming HBO pick up ‘Avenue 5’ to series, it will be his first regular tv role since starring in 2 seasons of the Hulu drama ‘Chance’.
The pilot for ‘Avenue 5’ will shoot in London later in 2018.
