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‘Broad City’ Will End After Season 5, As Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson Sign New Deal with Comedy Central

Fans will have to wait until 2019 for the final season, but in the meantime, Glazer and Jacobson are busy developing new shows for Comedy Central and other Viacom networks.
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson from 'Broad City'TVLine Portrait Studio, Day 3, Comic-Con International, San Diego, USA - 22 Jul 2017
Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, 'Broad City'
Michael Buckner/REX/Shutterstock

Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson are packing up and moving on from “Broad City.” But first — yaaaassssss, queen, they still have one more season of the critically acclaimed Comedy Central series left. “Broad City” will be back in early 2019 for its fifth and final season, the network announced on Thursday.

But that’s not the end of Glazer’s and Jacobson’s relationship with Comedy Central. The channel has signed a new first-look development deal with both stars, which means they’ll continue to create and develop programming for Comedy Central. The deal actually covers all of Viacom’s networks, which means Glazer and Jacobson could wind up developing and producing for other outlets like MTV and Paramount Network as well.

Under the deal, Glazer and Jacobson will create and develop projects both together and separately for Comedy Central and Viacom. They already have three projects in the works at the channel: “Mall Town USA,” “Platinum Status,” and “Young Professionals.”

“Ultimately, it’s basically up to Abbi and Ilana to decide how to resolve the saga of the two twentysomething young women in their post-college New York experience,” Comedy Central president Kent Alterman told IndieWire. “They came to us and said, ‘We think it’s time to resolve the series and we want to go out in style.’ They have really great ideas for what they’re trying to do in the final season. We celebrate it, and we’ve had a great collaboration. We’re really thrilled to continue that as well.”

In the press release announcing the deal, Alterman jokingly added that “their supreme focus on telling new stories, in new worlds, with new talent is nearly scary.”

In a joint statement, Glazer and Jacobson called “Broad City” their “baby and first love for almost ten years, since we started as a web series. It’s been a phenomenal experience, and we’ve put ourselves into it completely. ‘Broad City’s’ always had a spontaneous pace and feeling, and ending after season five honors that spirit. We are very excited to bring new voices and points of view to Comedy Central and continue our collaboration together in new ways.”

Here are descriptions of their three main projects currently in development:

• “Mall Town USA”: An animated comedy that follows the afterschool misadventures of a 13-year-old girl navigating the complexities of life in the classic microcosm of American culture that is The Mall. Mall Town USA is written and created by Gabe Liedman (“Broad City,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine”) and executive produced by Jacobson and Glazer.

• “Platinum Status”: Set in the hipster-heavy east side of Los Angeles, “Platinum Status” tells the story of professional back-up singer Noah (Eliot Glazer), a gay guy who’s always felt left out of the “community.” And after he’s dumped by his boyfriend of ten years, Noah rebounds in the least likely way: by hooking up with a girl. With help from his friends Kevin and Mimi and guidance from his kinda-sorta-girlfriend Alexa, Noah tries to evolve both in the bedroom and the recording studio. Eliot Glazer will write and executive produce and Ilana Glazer will also executive produce along with Principato Young’s Peter Principato and Brian Steinberg and Electric Avenue’s Will Arnett and Marc Forman.

• “Young Professionals”: At age twenty-four, David Litt became one of the youngest White House speechwriters in history. Described as the “comic muse for the president,” Litt served as the lead writer for many of President Obama’s most memorable comedic moments, and his recent memoir, “Thanks, Obama,” is a New York Times best seller. Inspired by Litt’s coming-of-age in our nation’s capital, Young Professionals follows five housemates growing up – personally, politically, and professionally – in the hopelessly absurd world of Washington, D.C. Young Professionals is written by and executive produced by Litt, with Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer also serving as executive producers.

During its run, “Broad City” received a Writers Guild Award nomination for best comedy series, and multiple Emmy nominations for its digital offshoot, “Hack into Broad City.”

Beyond “Broad City,” Glazer last year starred in the feature comedy “Rough Night,” and is an executive producer on the upcoming film “Brother Orange” starring Jim Parsons. Jacobson’s most recent film, Netflix’s “6 Balloons,” began streaming on April 6. She also provided a voice for the animated “The LEGO Ninjago Movie,” and provides a voice in the Netflix series “Disenchantment,” from Matt Groening. Additionally, Jacobson hosts “A Piece of Work” podcast with WNYC and MoMA, and wrote the book “I Might Regret This,” which will be released in October.

Glazer and Jacobson trained at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater, where they first met.

“In a way and a testament to Abbi and Ilana, I think what they showed with ‘Broad City’ through these years really going back to the formative stages when they were doing a web series, they showed such a keen ability to tap into the cultural moment that we’re living in,” Alterman said. “Which has obviously changed since then. When we first started talking about ‘Broad City’ it was clear that they weren’t just electrifying talent on screen, individually and the chemistry they had with each other, but also they exhibited such tenacious drive to create and create very provocative culturally relevant stories. With ‘Broad City’ we felt they had a great sense of comedy and authenticity and specificity in terms of the time and chase.”

After “Broad City” wraps, will Glazer and Jacobson be seen on Comedy Central in front of the camera? Alterman said it’s too soon to tell.

“We honestly haven’t even discussed that,” he said. “I would imagine they’re going to go all in on making Season 5 the best it can be and then take it from there.”

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