HBO orders two‑season animated comedy ‘Merrick & Treves’ from Archer creators

HBO has ordered a new original half-hour animated comedy series, and gave it a two-season pickup to boot.

The premium studio says that it has picked up Merrick & Treves, from veterans of FX’s Archer and Adult Swim‘s Frisky Dingo.

Merrick & Treves is a period animated series, set in Queen Victoria’s top secret Royal Temporal Constabulary. The show “follows a team of unlikely heroes as they voyage back and forth through time in an effort to stop Jack the Ripper.”

The show is from Adam Reed, Casey Willis and Lucky Yates, who are co-creators and executive producers.

“Adam, Casey, and Lucky are exceptional comedic talents whom we have admired for years,” says Amy Gravitt, executive VP of HBO programming and head of HBO & HBO Max comedy series, in a statement. “We couldn’t be more excited to team up with them to bring the wholly original Merrick & Treves to HBO audiences.”

“The three of us are beyond excited to have found a home for Merrick & Treves at HBO,” added Reed, Willis and Yates in a joint statement. “We can’t wait to start working with the creative team behind so many of our favorite shows. It’s actually quite daunting, now that we think about it. Like, holy shit, y’all. HBO.“

While HBO Max has plenty of adult animated shows, HBO itself has only dabbled in the space over the years, making the two-season order for Merrick & Treves unusual.

Adam Reed, Casey Willis, and Lucky Yates serve as co-creators and executive producers. From TFC Productions, Joel Begleiter will executive produce with Kelly Wu serving as co-executive producer. Reed is represented by UTA, TFC Management and Yorn Levine.