‘Archer’ Likely Ending in Season 10 With Shortened Run
FX’s Archer renewal came down to the wire this year, though a three-season guarantee through 2019 pretty well ensured Sterling would live through that Season 7 cliffhanger. Still, creators believe Season 10 will likely be the last for the team, potentially even with shortened episode runs at that.
It’s somewhat early yet, especially with three additional seasons to go, though creator Adam Reed offered a pretty definitive endpoint on the Modern School of Film’s Murmur podcast (via SplitSider). Moreover, where Season 7 shifted down to 10 episodes from the usual 13, Reed seems to suggest that the final three years might clock in at 8 episodes apiece:
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.
Previously, Archer boss Matt Thompson previously spoke to three competing ideas for a potential eighth season, one of which would center around Archer’s faithful (albeit little-seen after George Coe’s death) manservant Woodhouse. Of course, the Archer Season 7 finale seemingly killed off the title super-spy, last seen face-down in a pool with multiple gunshot wounds, so … there’s that.
Archer Season 8 will likely premiere in the first half of 2017, but is Season 10 a good place to say goodbye?