Spoilers ahead if you haven't watched the Season 10 finale of Archer on FXX.

The hit animated series Archer just wrapped up its tenth season in a big way. This season, officially titled Archer: 1999, was the latest foray into a specific genre for the formerly spy-focused series. Creator Adam Reed and the creative team put the title spy into a coma back in the Season 7 finale, but the stories didn't stop there. The successive seasons saw Archer & Co. taking trips to the noir-y "Dreamland", the adventurous "Danger Island", and, most recently, the sci-fi space-based "Archer: 1999." Season 10 brought us an android Krieger, an alien rock-monster Pam, and a sentient energy bot Malory/Mother (in addition to TV's Michael Gray and a Woodhouse cameo), but it also brought us an end to Archer's coma and his imaginative genre-skewed adventures.

But don't worry, fans; there's going to be a Season 11. And here with some special insider insight is everyone's favorite HR director/fight club aficionado/alien rock-monster, Pam Poovey herself, Amber Nash. I had a chance to chat with the acclaimed actress to talk about the show, the events of Season 10, the evolution of Pam's character, and what's to come in Season 11. And again, a spoiler reminder: You're about to enter the Danger Zone!

You can also take a listen to the full interview here:

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Image via FXX

Collider: How's it been for you then over the years getting to see your character not only transform and become increasingly insane and crazy in all the best possible ways, but to see the fans respond to that?

Amber Nash: It's been insane. It's so crazy and wonderful because I really do love my character. And I'm biased of course. But I do think she is the best character on the show and it's been fun to watch her kind of come into her own. I think in the beginning she was very much just the secondary character that they just pulled her in when they needed her. And now she's a fully formed person, for lack of a better term. And she has all different kinds of skills and she's become kind of a body positive, sex positive animated icon.

Which is so fun and crazy. I tell people all the time that I'm proud of Pam. Which is so weird to say, but it's really been amazing to watch her grow and to watch the fans reactions to her. And people are always like, "Oh my girlfriend's just like Pam." Or like, "Pam is my spirit animal." And so many people have tattoos of Pam. And it's just really been wonderful. I'm so happy that she's such a great character and I'm so lucky that I get to be the voice of that character.

Absolutely. One thing I love about Pam is that all the other characters, they're all very well written and lived-in after all these years, but Pam feels a little freer. It's almost like they can turn her into an alien rock monster for this season and it's kind of just like, "Yeah, that makes sense."

Nash: Yeah. It's like she really can almost fit into any mold. Which is crazy. But yeah, I agree with you. She's definitely a little bit more... she's not as static. Because even Krieger was Crackers as the bird last season. But Lana's always Lana because she needs to be, you know? And Archer's always Archer. So it is really fun to be one of those ... that's one of the great things about not being one of the main characters is that you have the freedom to... your characters get to do the fun stuff.

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Definitely. You had a recent interview with Newsweek that talked about the evolution of your character. I think it's probably safe to say that this version is the most insane that we've seen so far. But what's your take on this particular iteration of Pam?

Nash: Yeah, I think that every season they are the same people and the biggest assholes to each other that they always are. One of the things that's really fun about it. And then Pam being the rock monster has just been ... they told me when they were creating her that she was going to be the size of a dump truck compared to everybody else. And she was pretty big last season too. She was really muscular and stacked last season. So I was super excited to see what she looked like.

And the funny thing is Chad Hurd, who is one of the artists on the show at Floyd County, and he just tweeted a couple of days ago one of the first iterations of what they were trying to make Pam look like. And they went back and forth with the network and were trying to get approval of what they exactly wanted the Pam rock monster to be. And it's so funny looking because it's kind of dopey looking, this is one of the early ones, and it was really funny to see how dopey they started. And now, the finishing Pam is so strong and crazy. But she's got the same heart, which I think is great because then you can click right back into that character immediately and you're like, "Oh yeah I know this person. Sure, I look a little bit different. But I totally ... I know who she is. I know how she's going to react to stuff." You know?

 

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Image via FXX

Yeah, exactly. It was sort of like the first time you see her on screen, you're just kind of like, "Who and what is going on?" And then as soon as your voice comes through, you just snap right back into that and just, "Oh, it's Pam." And it was like a super cool moment.

Nash: Yes, yeah.

And then you get to have fun throughout the episodes, too, by showing off different powers or different eccentricities of the character that just kind of come out of left field. So that made it a lot of fun.

Nash: Totally. One of the only things that I regret is that I wished that I had known ... I was able to find out more about where she came from. Where's she from? And who are all these creatures and where do they live? And it just never explained of course, because Archer's in a coma. And so he doesn't care. He's not going into Pam's backstory in this new form of hers. So that's the only thing that I wanted to know more about.

Exactly. I'm sure the fans out there feel the same way. And then on that topic, how has it been for you and the rest of the cast and the writing team as well to get to explore these specific genres over the last three seasons as a bit of a departure from where you've been and where you're going next?

Nash: Yeah, I've really loved it. I know it's been controversial. Fans, either are onboard or they absolutely hate it. People on Twitter are just always like, "When are you going back to the real world?" And always complaining. And the thing I always say, which I think is really true is that if you're doing comedy, especially a show that's been on the air for 10 years, if you're doing comedy and it's going to stay fresh, you've got to take risks and do crazy stuff.

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Image via FXX

And I think that Adam Reed, who's the creator of the show and the primary writer for most of all the 10 seasons, I think he was getting bored and he needed to shake it up. And so that reinvigorated him. And for us, to get to play a gender neutral detective and a rock creature and basically like an Amazonian, they call her Pamazon, like an Amazon woman from Danger Island. It was so cool and different.

And every season when it started, it was exciting for us as actors to be like, "Ooh, how are they going to change the character this time?" And so, I thought it was really nice and I liked screwing around and doing different things because if this is a show I'm on, the fact that I'm not just in a spy show, but I'm in a sci-fi show and an island adventure. It really has been fun. It's been nice for all of us to keep it fresh.

Definitely. And first of all, I'm shocked to hear that anybody on Twitter is complaining about anything.

Nash: Right?

But for me personally, I love it. I'm a huge genre fan to begin with but the fact that Archer as a series kind of took this left turn, I liked that everybody took it in that direction and did something wildly imaginative and inventive with it.

Nash: Yeah.

I'm almost on the other side now where I'm like, "I wish I would have seen some more genre seasons." Because now we're going back. The Season 10 finale just happened.

Nash: That's right! Yup

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Image via FX

Before we get into that finale and what's going to maybe come next, you're still doing the Archer After Hours with Lucky, is that correct?

Nash: Yeah, actually we had our last one on Wednesday after the finale of Season 10 and it's been so much fun to do. Lucky and I have known each other 20 years. Way before we started doing Archer because we come from the same theater company in Atlanta, Dad's Garage. And so we've done live stage shows for years. That's where we come from. And so we were like, "Man, we just really want to do something for the fans and kind of like a talk show."

And we approached FX. We approached them last season about it but we didn't have enough time to get it together for season nine. But then Steve and Tim came along and they're like, "Okay guys go for it." And they put it on Facebook Live and it's been so much fun. Doing a live show was really fun and a bunch of people from Dad's come down and are our audience and it's just been really, really cool. And it's a different thing. People aren't used to seeing Lucky and I do that that watch Archer. Because they don't live in Atlanta and get to see us on stage all the time. But it's fun to get to show people the other stuff that we do.

Yeah, exactly. And you guys have a background in improv, as well. So I'm curious how much of Archer comes directly from the script, whether it's Adam Reed or whoever else is writing the episode, how much of that comes directly from the page and how much of it is being able to improv or play a little bit in the recording booth?

Nash: I think that they like to work with us because we're improvisers. Lucky and I worked with the guys that make the show on the previous show they did, Frisky Dingo, and other improvisers from our theater also. And so I think that they like to work with improvisers. But I will say that most of the show is scripted. The scripts are just so tight and have gone through notes and rewrites and other versions and there's just not a lot of room for it. But they do enjoy kind of screwing around a little bit.

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Image via FX

So we'll always read the lines as they're written a few times. And then Casey, who's our director and a producer on the show, will be like, "Oh, well let's try this way." Or if the timing's not feeling right or if it doesn't necessarily sound like something that would come out of Pam's mouth or it's not working as I'm saying it or delivering it, then we'll kind of screw around. Or if one of us is inspired by something and make a joke in the booth, we'll record a version with the joke. So there is some of that but it's not a whole lot. I guess because it's just not needed.

I was wondering ... this was a lead into my next question, just a very indulgent question for me, were there any other pasta-themed "spaghetti vacation" puns that you guys came up with that didn't make the cut?

Nash: No, but those are really one of my ... I really like dumb dad jokes. I really enjoy them. So I really like those two but there weren't ... those are all of them. We tapped out on those.

I definitely want to touch base on the finale. So, obviously big changes. Archer is now out of his coma. I don't think the rest of the team knows that yet because we're left with just a really nice scene between Archer and Malory. That was actually really nice. Almost fourth wall-breaking levels of heartbreak there.

Nash: Yeah.

What do you think is up next for Pam now that Archer's back around? I mean, I don't know if you guys have talked Season 11 stuff at all. I know the renewal news just came out recently. Have you heard anything? Do you know anything? Can you tease anything?

Nash: Well, yeah, so I know that they are still working on the first episode. I think that there has been a few drafts. So it's definitely close because I think we're going to start recording again soon. But we do know, like as you said at the end, Archer wakes up from his coma. And the scene with Malory, I got to watch it at Comic-Con with everybody in this giant room of people. And to hear the reaction of all the fans when Archer woke up was so incredible because I'm usually sitting at home by myself watching the episodes. So that was amazing. And it was so sweet but also weird because they're weird and it's a comedy. So it got a little weird for a minute there. It was so sweet like when it pans over and you see her little bed.

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Image via FX

But so the world's gone on without him I think is the big kind of that's where we're going. So he's been in a coma for three years, but the agency's still there. Everybody's still working at the agency. So kind of what has everybody been up to? I haven't gotten any information about what Pam's up to, but I'm assuming she has to have kind of risen the ranks. And is maybe in charge of something other than HR. Maybe she's out in the field more often. I think they are planning ... I think I maybe heard a little bit of a rumor that they're planning on kind of making everybody field agents. Because before it was Cheryl and I, and Cyril, we're always in the office. And so maybe kind of making us more out in the field.

But I think it's going to be fun because Archer's, he's atrophied. His body's weak. Lana's moved on and is probably married to somebody else. And he's got a kid now that's three years older then. So it's, I think going to be him kind of a fish out of water and people figuring out how to deal with Archer. After they've kind of moved on and he wants to be in charge because he thinks he's the best thing ever. And so it's going to be fun to get back to those places and figure out what's going to happen. And Mark Ganek, he's one of the writers that wrote, he wrote Mr. Deadly, which was episode five of this season.

It was so good. Such a good episode.

Nash: He's been a really great writer for the show. And so he is writing the first episode, I believe. So that's really exciting.

Very cool. Yeah, Archer looks better coming out of a coma of three years than I do after one night asleep.

Nash: I know, right?

The magic of cartoons I guess. So you don't know too much about what Pam may be doing as far as specifics. But how do you think she would react to learn all the things that Archer imagined up his three years in a coma? Maybe they share that in the future? I don't know if they're that open with each other, but how do you think she would react to finding all that insanity out?

Nash: I think she'd love it. I think she might be one of the only people that would be willing to ... it's like when your friend's like, "Oh I had a dream about you." And you're like, "Oh God, here we go. So I have to listen about this crazy dream that you had." And I think Pam would be one of the only people that would be like, "Oh boy, let's get into it". Like, "Tell me all about it over some beers." So I think Pam would totally, totally dig it. Lana on the other hand, would hate every minute of it and wouldn't want to hear any of it.

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She does have anger issues so that's definitely in keeping with the character.

Nash: Totally.

What is up next for you in addition to Archer? And what specifically is going on for you in the Atlanta area?

Nash: Oh, well I'm always at Dad's Garage. Which is the improv theater in Atlanta that I've always worked at and I will continue to work at as long as I'm here. And Lucky's always there too. So we're always doing different shows.

We are gearing up, my husband and I have a production company that's gearing up to make a feature film that will be ... hopefully we'll be shooting later this year. That will be a super low budget indie film about a woman in comedy dealing with her career but she's also got an adult brother with special needs and holidays and there's just, it's a lot of fun. It's going to be a really sweet movie, but a lot of comedy also. I think that the working title right now is What's Wrong with Christmas. Or something like that.

And then hopefully we don't know yet, but hopefully Lucky and I really want to do some more Archer After Hours for next season. So we'll have to see what FX thinks and if they'll let us do it again.

Keep an eye out for more on Archer Season 11 as we hear it!

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