Since the animated spy comedy Archer debuted in 2009, Sterling Archer has fought terrorists, drug dealers, the Yakuza, pirates, his mother and a string of other ne’er–do–wells. Now, with the show”s seventh season set to kick off on March 31, the gang will take on a whole new world of evil as they move to Hollywood and become private dicks (PHRASING!).
Archer creator, writer and the voice of Ray Gillette, Adam Reed, spoke with HitFix about the upcoming season of the Emmy-nominated series. He talked about Archer“s new direction, the growing relationship between Sterling and Lana and whether there”s any hope for an Archer movie.
Here”s what he said:
Why the switch away from the spy agency world?
The underlying reason was to provide some escapism for me, to get away from the geopolitical spike. The news has gotten a little more grim, and it was harder and harder to find ways around accidentally stepping into what already was or what could potentially crop up and be like, “Oh that”s a serious thing now.” You know, like ISIS.
What made you settle on having the gang go into the private eye business?
I”m a huge fan of the genre. My favorite TV shows growing up were the classic slate of P.I. shows from the ’70s and “80s – Magnum, Rockford, Simon & Simon, all of those. So I really loved them, and the transition and the format doesn”t change a whole lot whether you”re spying on a North Korean or you”re spying on a cheating husband…It”s all still covert and clandestine. It seemed like a natural switch and that their skills would translate fairly easily.
Is this going to be a one-and-done? By that I mean, will Sterling only be a P.I. for this year, or will this extend into future seasons?
Archer”s going to be a private eye for a while – beyond this season. Whether they”ll go back to being spies any time soon, I don”t know yet.
Will Sterling and Lana get more serious as a couple now that they have a child together?
They do get more serious as a couple in this coming season, but that doesn”t necessarily go well. I don”t know that them getting serious together is their recipe for success. So they actually have a very turbulent season together.
Any chance they tie the knot?
I don”t want to spoil the last episode, but I can neither confirm nor deny that they tie the knot.
Will we ever see an Archer movie?
People talk about that. I don”t know that FX necessary talks about it. I would love to do that. We bring it up to them quite frequently. They haven”t really ever brought it up to us. But I would really love to do that.
What might an Archer movie look like?
I think they would probably be reactivated by the government for one world-saving mission. One last, big score.
Now that you”re in Season 7, the series is mature. While fans hope it”s around for a long time to come, have you mapped out the end game for Archer?
It is all mapped out. The mapping started about half way through the writing of this Season 7. I sort of have the end in mind, I just am hoping it”s a long time from now…I don”t want FX to call and go, ‘Hey, so that ending, just do an extra episode this season and make that the end and then get out.”
The seventh season of Archer airs March 31at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX.