Armando Iannucci’s Space Tourism Comedy Avenue 5 Ordered to Series at HBO

With his acclaimed political comedy Veep on its way out of office at HBO, two-time Emmy winner Armando Iannucci has sold the pay-cabler another series. HBO has ordered Iannucci’s futuristic space comedy Avenue 5 to series, with Hugh Laurie manning the captain’s chair as the show’s star. For now, there’s a black hole where Avenue 5’s episode count and premiere date should be.

According to THR (and common sense, given all Veep’s success), Iannucci’s new show being picked up was all but a foregone conclusion, as HBO had already commissioned additional back-up scripts alongside their initial pilot order, which they made back in September 2017.

In addition to previous Veep guest star Laurie, Avenue 5’s crew consists of Josh Gad (Frozen), Zach Woods (Veep), Nikki Amuka-Bird (Luther), Rebecca Front (Iannucci’s The Thick of It), Lenora Crichlow (Black Mirror: “White Bear”), Suzy Nakamura (Veep) and Ethan Phillips (Veep). As you’ll notice, most of these folks are previous Iannucci collaborators, so we can expect the Oscar nominee—who created the series, directed its pilot episode and executive produces alongside Kevin Loader, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Will Smith—will be right at home on Avenue 5.

Filmed in London, Avenue 5 is described as “a space tourism comedy set 40 years in the future when the solar system is everyone’s oyster.” Considering the acidic wit and prescient satire Iannucci has brought to bear on the petty, self-serving squabbles of earthbound politics in Veep, The Death of Stalin, In the Loop and others, we can only imagine the fun he’ll have with a spaceship full of entitled interstellar tourists traipsing around the solar system.

Catch Iannucci’s reaction to today’s news below.

So here’s what I’ve been up to lately. Pilot was amazing fun to shoot with a top team of very amusing space people. https://t.co/R4SvNmCzJN

— Armando Iannucci (@Aiannucci) April 22, 2019