With superhero fatigue now approaching what seems like its peak, HBO has decided to capitalise on the cultural phenomenon with a comedy series dubbed The Franchise.
Brought to life by what we’re willing to dub the Avengers of biting satire with series creator Armando Iannucci (The Thick of It, Veep, Death of Stalin) and showrunner-writer Jon Brown (Succession, Veep) — with heavyweight director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Skyfall, 1917) also involved — the official description for this The Boys-adjacent affair is as follows:
“The crew of an unloved franchise movie fight for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe. The Franchise shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every f**k-up has an origin story.”
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“With a deft touch only he can bring, Sam has brilliantly captured the romance and the reality of filmmaking today,” said Amy Gravitt, Executive VP of HBO Programming.
“Jon is superb at sending up worlds we think we already know. Together, with Armando, they have delivered a truly hilarious comedy ensemble. I can’t wait to see more.”
At the time of this writing, the cast features Billy Magnussen as Adam, Jessica Hynes as Steph, Darren Goldstein as Pat, Lolly Adefope as Dag, Isaac Cole Powell as Bryson, Himesh Patel as Daniel, and Aya Cash as Anita — the latter of whom has previously portrayed Nazi-supe Stormfront in Amazon Prime Video’s The Boys.
Richard E. Grant and Daniel Bruhl — both of whom have a place in the MCU as the Classic Loki variant and Baron Helmut Zemo, respectively — are set to guest star.
Keep an eye out here for crucial updates on HBO’s The Franchise (release date, trailer, news, etc.). In light of the ongoing Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA strikes, we could very well be waiting a little longer than anticipated.
