Several publications (this one included) reported yesterday that HBO had ordered four episodes of a revived Flight Of The Conchords, based on an out-of-context quote from Conchords bassist/man who’s not crying (it’s just been raining on his face) Jemaine Clement. After that quote raced across the Internet, Clement stepped forward to clarify.
The full quote, from a Guardian profile pegged to the release of the horror-comedy What We Do In The Shadows, reads as such:
Are the Conchords, dormant at the moment, waiting to erupt again? “We talk about a movie every so often,” says Clement. “Sometimes it feels like we lost a lot of impetus over the last couple of years. But Bret, James [Bobin, lead director] and me, we all want to do a musical. It would be good to do something all together… I miss playing Flight of the Conchords gigs.”
HBO have commissioned a new, four-episode comedy show from Clement and Waititi, he reveals. “It was supposed to be this year but then we decided to put What We Do in the Shadows out ourselves.” He is also quietly excited to announce he is playing the lead in People, Places and Things, James Strouse’s new film about a graphic novelist.
As a version of that quote that omitted Waititi’s name made the rounds, many (The A.V. Club included, once more) took it as confirmation that a four-episode extension of Flight Of The Conchords was on its way. But as Clement has since explained, his new HBO effort is a separate venture, one that does not (as of yet, at least) include input from Conchords writer-director James Bobin, nor Bret McKenzie, Flight Of The Conchords guitarist/guy who’s not crying (and if he is crying, it’s not because of you, it’s because he’s thinking about a friend you don’t know who is dying—that’s right, dying).
So, no, HBO isn’t making more Flight Of The Conchords. And, no, these aren’t tears of sadness because we were so eager to watch the further adventures of Bret and Jemaine. We’ve just been cutting onions. We’re making a lasagna… for one.