HBO Commissions Armando Iannucci’s Space Comedy ‘Avenue 5’ To Series
Armando Iannucci is taking one giant leap for HBO as the US network commissions space comedy ‘Avenue 5‘ from the ‘Veep’ and ‘The Thick Of It’ creator.
Created, written and exec produced by Iannucci, the series is set 40yrs in the future, and stars Hugh Laurie as Ryan Clark, the charming and in-control American captain of the of the Avenue 5, a space tourism vessel. He’s joined by Second Engineer Billie McEvoy, played by ‘Being Human’s Lenora Crichlow, and Zach Woods (‘Silicon Valley’s Jared) who stars as Matt Spencer, Head of Customer Relations.
On the ship, there are of course passengers. Rebecca Front (‘The Thick of It’, ‘Humans’) plays Karen Kelly, who illicitly boarded Avenue 5 using her sister’s non-transferable ticket, and Spike Martin, played by Ethan Phillips (Neelix on ‘Star Trek: Voyager’), an elderly space enthusiast and former astronaut who is a grizzled womanizer and heavy drinker.
Clark’s boss is played by Josh Gad (‘Frozen’s Olaf ‘Beauty and the Beast’) as Herman Judd, the Billionaire behind a the Judd empire, which includes hotels, fitness clubs, space tourism, and owner of the Avenue 5. Judd’s right-hand-woman is Iris Kimura, played by Suzy Nakamura (‘Dr. Ken’, ‘The Goldbergs’, ‘Black-ish’). Nikki Amuka-Bird (‘Hard Sun’, ‘Luther’) stars as Rav Mulcair, Head of Judd Mission Control on Earth.
This is an interesting direction for Iannucci, who has mainly focused on brilliantly funny political satire up in recent years. 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.
Along with Iannucci, the show is exec produced by Kevin Loader, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Will Smith, who have worked with him on his previous projects. Iannucci wrote and directed the pilot episode.
HBO hasn’t given a premiere date yet, however, when it does appear, ‘Avenue 5‘ should air on Sky Atlantic in the UK.
