‘Archer’ Season 10 Title Revealed, Plus Character Details, Movie Buzz, and Plans for the Ending — Comic-Con
Archer is ready to party like it’s 1999 — in space! The new season of FX’s long-running animated series announced its new title for Season 10, and despite the futuristic setting, the new moniker alludes to a time 19 years in the past.
“Blast off to: ‘Archer: 1999,'” executive producer Casey Willis announced Friday evening in San Diego.
Willis was joined by fellow executive producer Matt Thompson, art director Chad Hurd, and cast members H. Jon Benjamin (the voice of Archer), Jessica Walter (Mallory), Chris Parnell (Cyril), Amber Nash (Pam), and Lucky Yates, who was dressed in a parrot costume to honor his Season 9 character. FX didn’t have any footage to show the Comic-Con guests, but fans already got a glimpse of next season’s footage during the “Archer: Danger Island” finale.
“We’ve literally just started working on it over the last couple weeks,” EP Matt Thompson said. “We recorded the first episode.”
Willis also shared character details for the new season. Sterling Archer, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, will play the co-captain of the USS Figgis. Alongside him is his co-captain and ex-wife Lana Kane (played by Aisha Tyler); the two just went through a “nasty divorce,” so fans can expect more of their trademark heated (and hilarious) bickering.
“Adam [Reed] has had a plan going since season seven. It’s all leading somewhere and I think everyone is going to be really excited to see where it goes.”—Executive Producer Casey Willis explaining Archer’s coma arc
— Archer (@archerfxx) July 21, 2018
“Lana is the co-captain and that causes a lot of tension between her and Archer because she owns half the ship,” Willis said.
Mallory (Jessica Walter) will be the ship’s artificial intelligence and a “possible being of pure energy”; Cheryl (Judy Greer) is a hotshot fighter pilot, but she’s not happy about it. “[She] hates it. So she’s always bored with doing what she’s really good at,” Willis said.
Ray (voiced by series creator Adam Reed) is the “loneliest courtesan” in the galaxy, while Pam Poovey (Amber Nash) is a “brutish alienoid.” Finally, the former Dr. Krieger is now a synthetic android.
“I’m even more excited about this new season because we’re going backwards instead of forward. We’re going to outer space,” Thompson said.
Again, because this is important: Lucky Yates has brought Crackers to life. #Archer #SDCC pic.twitter.com/f800SFWmfU
— Ben Travers (@BenTTravers) July 21, 2018
Eight episodes are scheduled for Season 10, as the series continues the anthology structure it adopted in 2016. Ever since Archer fell into a coma at the end of Season 7, “Archer” has started telling standalone stories over each season. First came “Dreamland,” which set up the dream scenario that’s used to explain the characters’ new identities and each season’s new setting. Last year, the gang took a trip to “Danger Island,” set in the 1930s and focusing on a pilot who goes searching for buried treasure.
2016 also marked when creator Adam Reed, who was not at the Comic-Con panel, said he planned to end the series after Season 10. More recently, he told IndieWire “things are kind of up in the air” and couldn’t definitively say if the next season would be “Archer’s” last.
No one on the panel spoke to when the show would end (or when we might see Archer out of his coma), but Willis did confirm Reed is still working under the plan he established in Season 7.
“It’s leading somewhere, and I think everyone will be really excited to see where it goes,” Willis said. The cast complained about the vague tease — apparently, they don’t even know what’s going to happen — but no more answers were provided.
Now that they’re headed to outer space, might the big screen be next?
“It is discussed,” Thompson said of a movie. “We have discussed it with our great friends at FX. It’s not something we’ve said no to, but it’s got to be the right thing that makes sense for us to jump from that screen to that screen.”
He later confirmed if they do make a movie, “I believe it will be live-action.”
Watch the opening video made for Comic-Con below. “Archer” Season 10 is expected in 2019 on FXX.
Comic Con, you ain’t seen nothing yet. Crackers just flew into the Archer panel to show you what he’s been working on for the past 80 years. #ArcherFXX pic.twitter.com/Jm7QHT6SNl
— Archer (@archerfxx) July 21, 2018
