Avenue 5's second voyage may indeed be the last for HBO's space-faring comedy. An exclusive report from Deadline reveals the show may be ending after Season 2 airs, which is reportedly coming sometime this fall. Additionally, the cast of Armando Iannucci's series has been released from their contracts to pursue other jobs around the industry, leaving this vessel without a crew.
The end of Avenue 5 is likely the result of a long delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Season 1 had the unfortunate luck of airing in January 2020 which, in turn, saw the series picked up for a second season a month later - right before the pandemic hit. The unfortunate timing pushed production all the way back to August 2021 and the massive gap in between seasons did not bode well for the cast whose options were coming up. With some of those actors now signing on to new roles, it's highly unlikely that the series will continue.
Avenue 5 bears many similarities to another doomed space comedy, Netflix's Space Force; both shows had big-name creatives at the helm, Veep's Iannucci for Avenue 5 and The office's Greg Daniels for Space Force. The two shows also had a loaded cast led by a fan favorite, in this case, Hugh Laurie, while the Netflix show had Steve Carrell. However, Avenue 5 leaned far more into sci-fi territory than the Daniels' workplace sitcom ever did. The HBO comedy saw Laurie and company aboard an intergalactic space cruise which goes off course after a freak accident kills the chief engineer. Laurie played the ship's captain Ryan Clark, who tries to get everything under control and help get the ship back to Earth before supplies run out, a task made all the more difficult by the fact that he was merely an actor hired to portray the captain in order to reassure passengers while the ship's automated control system did the all the work.
The second season will see conditions on Avenue 5 much worse than ever before. While the real crew and the fake employees work together to find a solution that will get everyone home in six months instead of the original three years, their plan backfires due to total incompetence. Their big plan to readjust their course by launching cargo out of the back of the ship instead adds a whopping five years to their three-year delay after they accidentally launch it out of the portside. With the passengers now aware that the captain and much of the crew are frauds, tension is at an all-time high heading into the new season.
Joining Laurie is a star-studded cast that includes the likes of Josh Gad, Zach Woods, Rebecca Front, Suzy Nakamura, Lenora Crichlow, Nikki Amuka-Bird, and Ethan Phillips. Iannucci executive produced the series with Kevin Loader, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche, and Will Smith alongside co-executive producers Peter Fellows and Becky Martin. Steve Clark-Hall produces the series which is co-produced by Sky UK and HBO.
Season 1 of Avenue 5 can currently be streamed on HBO Max. There's no confirmed release date yet for its second and likely final season.