Last week, FX’s hit animated TV seriesArcherwrapped up its seventh season, although FX has not yet issued a renewal for Season 8. Every now and then,rumorssurface about a potentialArchermovie, and whether or not it would be live action or animated, like the TV series itself. While we still don’t know for sure if a movie will ever happen, the producers only have one actor in mind to play the beloved spy Sterling Archer. If you haven’t caught up with this most recent season ofArcher, there will be SPOILERS below, so read on at your own risk.
While it isn’t known if and when FX will issue a Season 8 renewal, Season 7 ended on quite thecliffhanger, with Sterling Archer (voiced byH. Jon Benjamin) laying presumably dead in a Los Angeles pool, his body riddled with bullets. As we await the fate ofArcherSeason 8, executive producerMatt Thompsonrevealed toThe Daily BeastthatMad MenstarJon Hammis the only actor they want to play Sterling Archer in alive-action movie. Here’s what the producer had to say below.
“It’sJon Hamm. IfArchergoes live-action, I do believe it will beJon Hamm. Maybe you could do it withJon 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 beJon Benjamin!’ But if it is live-action-and if it is notJon Benjamin-it is our greatest hope that it would beJon Hamm. I can say that with confidence.”
Jon Hammhimself is no stranger to the world ofArcher, voicing Captain Murphy in the two-part episodeSea Tuntwhich served as the last two episodes of Season 4. The producer also admitted that Sterling Archer’s look was heavily influenced onJon Hamm’s iconic AMC seriesMad Men, which debuted in 2007, two years beforeArcherarrived on FX in 2009. Here’s what the producer had to say about howArcherwas influenced byMad Men.
“We’re working on a way to create anH. Jon Hamm Benjaminhybrid. The production and costume design obviously owe a great deal toMad Men’s repopularizing the 1960s aesthetic, andArcher’s character model is just lucky enough to be that handsome in real life. Which is probably why he’s a model, now that I think about it.”
As for whether or not a movie will ever happen, that’s still up in the air.Matt Thompsonrevealed that the producers discuss the potential for anArchermovie every two years or so with series creatorAdam Reed, but he adds that the final decision rests withAdam Reed. Here’s what he had to say below.
“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.”
The decision to not make a movie until the series has wrapped up was influenced by one ofMatt Thompson’s friends,David Willis, who worked on the animated seriesAqua Teen Hunger Force.David Willisclaims that the decision to make theAqua Teen Hunger Forcemovie while the show was still on the air “negatively impacted” the viewing of the actual show, which has influenced theArcherteam quite a bit. As forJon Hamm, he will next be seen on the big screen inAbsolutely Fabulous: The Movie, arriving in theaters July 1, andKeeping Up With the Joneses, arriving October 21. He recently wrapped onEdgar Wright’sBaby Driver, which is set for release on July 20, 2025. We’ll be sure to keep you posted on the status of anArcherlive action movie as soon as more updates come in.
