Fresh off of ending his critically acclaimed and award-winning comedy series “Veep,” writer-director Armando Iannucci, is returning to HBO with his brand new series, “Avenue 5.” And from the looks of the latest trailer, this show will contain much of the razor-sharp dialogue and wit we’ve come to see from Iannucci. The series is described as a “space tourism comedy set 40 years in the future, when the solar system is everyone’s oyster.”
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The show stars Hugh Laurie (“House”) as Chris Ryan, captain of the Avenue 5, a space cruise ship housing hundreds of passengers as they travel the cosmos. In the trailer, we see Ryan and his crew are charged with keeping the ship and everyone on board safe, and at first, everything seems to be going fine. But when the Avenue 5 encounters a major technical difficulty, the voyage is thrown into complete and utter mayhem since, aside from Ryan, the crew is a bunch of bumbling and incompetent fools.
Rounding out the “Avenue 5” cast are Josh Gad (“Frozen”), Zach Woods (“Silicon Valley”), Suzy Nakamura (“Modern Family”), Rebecca Front (“Death Comes to Pemberley”), Kyle Bornheimer (“Playing House”), Ethan Phillips (“Star Trek: Voyager”), and Nikki Amuka-Bird (“Luther”).
Iannucci was the showrunner of “Veep” up until its final season, where he departed to work on other projects. His work extends far beyond that of the small screen, in 2017 his film “The Death of Stalin” was released to critical acclaim and was nominated for several awards including a BAFTA for best-adapted screenplay and best British film. His newest film, “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” which also starred Laurie, premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and was a hit with critics and fans that saw the film.
“Avenue 5” is set to premiere on January 19 on HBO. Check out the first full trailer here.
