Rob Lowe, Jenna Fischer, and Megan Mullally are set to star in a new British series called Apocalypse Slough, a 10-part original drama airing on Sky 1 later this year and on NBC at some point thereafter, according to Deadline. After learning that a massive comet large enough to wipe out all life is on a collision course with Earth, a group of friends gather beneath the small British town (made famous by the original UK Office) to watch the end of the world on TV. Rounding out the cast are Joel Fry (Game Of Thrones), Patterson Joseph (Babylon), Pauline Quirke (Broadchurch), and Mathew Baynton (Yonderland).
While the premise sounds rather dour, the series is billed as “an adrenaline-fueled witty epic.” Lowe plays Father Jude, who works as the Devil’s Advocate in the Vatican. (In Catholicism, a Devil’s Advocate was assigned to argue against candidates for sainthood. In real life, the position was abolished in 1983.) Lowe’s character is described as “charismatic, irreverent, rebellious, but also deeply moral.” The looming apocalypse will cause his devil’s advocate to question that morality and his faith (presumably while saying devil’s advocate things like, “Hear me out for just a second”).
Fischer plays a mild-mannered librarian named Rhonda who was sent to a maximum security prison for a crime she didn’t commit and must race to be reunited with her family before it’s too late. The former Office star will pair up with Mullally’s Leanne, a white supremacist who takes Rhonda under her wing and proves to be “exactly the streetwise sidekick Rhonda needs.”
Other characters include a local bank manager, his tough-as-nails mother, and his hedonistic best friend (Baynton, Quirke, and Fry, respectively). Joseph will play a high-level military general who will hopefully bring some much needed order to this eclectic group of characters.