Netflix Readies Ensemble Comedy With Keegan-Michael Key

Keegan-Michael Key, Cobie Smulders to star in Netflix series ‘Friends From College’

netflix harvard ensemble keegan michael key — Comedy Central

Netflix has picked up an ensemble comedy called Friends From College that will star Keegan-Michael Key, Cobie Smulders, and Fred Savage, Variety reports.

The show follows a group of friends who all graduated from Harvard at the same time. Now in their 40s, they’ve each reached differing levels of success since their time together at the prestigious educational institution.

It was written by husband-and-wife team Nick Stoller and Francesa Delbanco. Stoller, who is currently working on the TV series The Carmichael Show, most notably directed the 2008 film Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Considering both he and Delbanco attended Harvard themselves, there may be some grains of truth in the story, or at least some inspiration for episodes based on their own real-life experiences. Indeed, Stoller and Delbanco will both be executive producing and writing the series. There will be a total of eight episodes in the first season, which Stoller is on tap to direct as well.

In addition to Key, Smulders, and Savage, the cast will also include Annie Parisse (Person of Interest, Vinyl), Nat Faxon (TripTank), and Jae Suh Park, who most recognizably had a small part playing the wife of lead character Michael Burry (played by Christian Bale) in the Academy Award-winning film The Big Short.

Key is best known for both his time as a cast member of sketch comedy series MADtv as well as one-half of the Key & Peele duo, alongside Jordan Peele. A sketch comedy show, Key & Peele ran from 2012 to 2015 on Comedy Central. Smulders is best known for her role as Robin on the CBS comedy How I Met Your Mother, as well as for her role in the Avengers: Age of Ultron movie and the Agents of SHIELD series on ABC. She will next appear in Jack Reacher: Never Go Back. Savage, meanwhile, is known as the lead in 1988-1993 comedy-drama The Wonder Years and, most recently, from now-cancelled Fox series The Grinder. He also voices Goober/Richie Osborne on Netflix animated series BoJack Horseman.

Cindy Holland, Vice President of Original Content at Netflix, calls the characters “relatable” and says that Stoller and Delbanco have “created a world that is both moving and very, very funny.”

Production will begin this fall in New York City.

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