Armando Iannucci’s sci-fi comedy “Avenue 5” wrapped up its run a few weeks back, the series launching to mixed reviews but has done well enough for HBO that a second season is a go.
Hugh Laurie, Josh Gad, Lenora Crichlow, and Suzy Nakamura lead the cast of the show in which a luxury space-bound cruise ship suddenly veers off course and looks likely not to get back to Earth for decades rather than weeks.
Iannucci spoke with THR this week and offered updates on the forthcoming second season which is in the early stages of pre-production. The series creator says:
“We’ve mapped out the first six episodes and the final three we’ll probably map out next month. But it’s basically about people in isolation. So, we’re just waiting to see what the mood might be as to how we pitch. Is it going to be bleak despair, or is it going to be very very silly? Or maybe silly despair? I don’t know. We tried to make season one as silly as possible, but it seems to have strangely become a kind of documentary about present day conditions.”
Iannucci also spoke about the hardest element of working on the next season of a comedy series amidst this pandemic:
“Its been good to try and think of things that make you laugh and make everyone else laugh. I think the hardest bit, though, is the open-ended nature now and because I’m so used to working to a deadline, we’re inventing deadlines. So, that that’s been the hardest bit – adjusting to that kind of uncertainty, and not knowing the environment in which it is then going to be made and broadcast. It’s a challenge. It’s an interesting challenge.”
“Avenue 5” Season 1 is now available to stream on HBO Go and HBO NOW.
