If there’s one thing Armando Iannucci knows, it’s comedy. Second to that, is how to stack a cast. From The Thick Of It to In The Loop to Veep and The Death To Stalin, assembling a talented group of performers is easy-peasy. So it makes sense that his new comedy series set in space, Avenue 5, would follow that same course. Over the past 48 hours Deadline has revealed not one, but 2 major casting announcements. It looks like Josh Gad and Zach Woods are taking on large roles on the show. Or at least the pilot, as these things can change along the way.
Gad will be playing the part of Herman Judd, the billionaire mind who funds the Avenue 5 spaceship. Judd made his fortune with luxury resorts, hotels, fitness clubs, before launching into space tourism. Meanwhile, Woods will be filling a role that sounds all familiar for his skill set, as Head of Customer Relations, Matt Spencer. Described as a nihilisit and nice guy, Spencer formerly has past where he tried to make a career out of being an entertainer. No idea what that means, but with Woods in his shoes, legitimately anything is possible. The two join a cast rounded out by Suzy Nakamura, who plays Gad’s right-hand business brains and Hugh Laurie as the captain of said spaceship.
Avenue 5 has had a rather long development cycle. HBO originally ordered a pilot back in 2017, based on the strength of the script. The plan was to shoot in London in 2018, but, well, that didn’t work out. Supposedly since then, the pay cable channel has also picked up a few backup scripts, should the pilot prove successful. Once filmed and completed of course. Once there’s stills or footage to give us a sense of the show’s tone, we’ll update things accordingly. With Iannucci’s track record though, it’s hard to imagine this won’t be another big hit.
