A new TV series from the creators of Clone High is headed to Fox. Granted, the creators of Clone High have gone on to do a few other things in the interim—Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21/22 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie, and the upcoming “Young Han Solo” spinoff movie—but the prospect of a new TV show from the Clone High dudes is really all the selling one needs to say, “I’m in.”
Fox announced today that it has ordered to series the inventive live-action/animation hybrid comedy Son of Zorn, which Lord and Miller will executive produce alongside Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne (Wilfred), who will serve as showrunners. The show follows the titular Zorn, a fully animated legendary warrior voiced by Jason Sudeikis who returns to Earth for the first time in 10 years. Upon his arrival, he struggles to reconnect with his live-action son (21 Jump Street’s Johnny Pemberton) and ex-wife (Cheryl Hines) and finds working a mundane office job to be more difficult than waging war on his distant, mystical homeland of Zephyria.
This is just the kind of unique, odd, and downright silly premise that Lord and Miller have built a career on, and I’m thrilled to see the duo returning to TV animation in some form even though duties directing a Star Wars movie prevents them from being as involved with Son of Zorn as they were on Clone High. Regardless, the two are just coming off another fantastic return to television with Will Forte’s delightful The Last Man on Earth, which Lord and Miller also executive produce.
Lord and Miller directed the first two episodes of The Last Man on Earth, but Eric Appel (Brooklyn Nine-Nine—a show for which Lord and Miller also directed the pilot) will be serving and director and co-producer on Zorn. Again, it’s understandable that Lord and Miller are rather busy with a Star Wars movie at the moment, but it’s nice to see that they’re still committed to bringing thoughtful, unique comedy to the masses on network television. And Son of Zorn isn't the only new TV series the duo has in development: they're also working on an adaptation of the podcast Serial, a TV remake of Greatest American Hero, and a single-camera time-travel sitcom. The latter two are also set up at Fox, but as of right now Zorn is the only one with a series commitment.
Son of Zorn will debut sometime during Fox’s 2016-2017 season.
