It’s pretty much impossible to separate the titular hero of Archer (phrasing) from H. Jon Benjamin’s iconic voice, but if an Archer movie does indeed happen down the line, fans may be in for quite a shakeup. The producers of FX’s hilarious animated spy series recently told The Daily Beast that not only do they hope to make a live-action Archer movie happen, they know exactly who will play the lead character in that iteration: Jon Hamm. Executive producer Matt Thompson didn’t hesitate when asked about the prospect:
“It’s Jon Hamm,” says Thompson, firmly. “If Archer goes live-action, I do believe it will be Jon Hamm. Maybe you could do it with Jon Benjamin’s voice coming out of him? I don’t know. [Series creator] Adam [Reed] is always like, ‘I don’t know if I want the movie to be live-action because I want it to be Jon Benjamin!’ But if it is live-action—and if it is not Jon Benjamin—it is our greatest hope that it would be Jon Hamm. I can say that with confidence.”
I have mixed feelings about the (re-)casting of Hamm as Archer. On the one hand, Hamm has more than proven his skills as a terrific comedic actor from standout turns in 30 Rock, Bridesmaids, Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp, etc.. And Hamm can absolutely handle the immense handsomeness that the role calls for, obviously. But H. Jon Benjamin is Archer, and it’d be really tough to see the character without Benjamin’s cadence intact. Although if anyone could pull that off and make a joke about the re-casting at the same time, it’s the Archer team.
However, don’t expect an Archer movie to happen before the series is over and done with, as Thompson added that this idea wouldn’t move forward until the TV show has concluded:
“It’s all up to whatever Adam [Reed] wants to do, but he and I have definitely talked about it. I think we talk about it once every two years. We vacillate between if you do it, why are you doing the TV show? And should it be live-action, or should it be cartoon? The talk is there, we just still haven’t decided. I don’t think there will be a movie before the last episode of Archer airs on TV. I don’t think we’ll make a movie before the series finishes.”
Curiously, while Archer aired its spectacular Season 7 finale last week with a solid cliffhanger, FX has yet to officially renew the series for Season 8. The show isn’t exactly a ratings juggernaut, but its consistency of quality has kept a devoted fanbase throughout the years. So come on FX, you know what to do.
Although now that I think about it, in the event that FX doesn’t renew Archer, that Season 7 finale actually sets up a live-action movie starring Jon Hamm pretty perfectly…
What do you think folks? Would you be down for Jon Hamm as Sterling Archer? Sound off in the comments below.
