Sad news for Sterling Archer, Lana Kane, Cyril Figgis, Pam Poovey, Algernop Krieger, Cheryl Tunt, Malory Archer, Barry, Katya, Woodhouse, Pigly, Goatly, and the wee baby Abbiejean: Archer creator Adam Reed has announced that the end is in sight for his FX espionage spoof. Reed made the announcement on the Modern Film School’s Murmur podcast, where he said that the show’s most recent FX order—which added three more eight-episode seasons onto its run—would be its last:
“The plan is to end Archer after season 10. I don’t know that anybody has talked about that, but that is definitely my plan—to do 8, 9, and 10 and they’re gonna be each shorter seasons of just eight episodes, and then wind it up.…I was gonna end it after 8, but then I had sort of a brain explosion of a way that I could do three more seasons and really keep my interest up. So the three seasons that are coming up are gonna be pretty different from what has come before, and they’re gonna be different from each other.”
Hey…hey, no, don’t cry. (You’re so ugly when you cry.) Ten seasons is still a lot for a show that struggled to find an audience out of the gate, and which has shown a zealous determination to blow up its own premise every time Reed and company get bored with what they’re doing. (A tendency most recently reflected by a seventh season-move to L.A.) Instead of mourning Archer—which will still be on the air through 2019, presumably—let’s just dive right into the danger zone, and baselessly speculate about what kind of high-concept season ideas Reed might have exploding around in his head right now.
Archer In Space? (It’s been done.) Archer Underwater? (Ditto.) Archer On The Farm? Robo-Archer? (Given how the last season ended, that one doesn’t seem out of the realm of possibility, actually.) Quantum Archer, where Sterling bounces through history, entering people’s bodies and making them do stuff?
Aw, “phrasing.” We’ll miss you most of all.