The chaotic and unstable act of making a superhero movie comes to life in the first teaser for The Franchise, HBO’s upcoming comedy series by Sam Mendes, Armando Iannucci, and Jon Brown.
“Just another 83 days, and then we’re done. Let’s savor every moment,” Himesh Patel’s Daniel says in the teaser. Daniel is one of the crew members working on an “unloved franchise movie.” The shoot goes off the rails, with the actors and crew struggling to complete production.
Per HBO’s logline, “The comedy series shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every f*ck-up has an origin story.”
Besides Patel, The Franchise stars Aya Cash as Anita, Jessica Hynes as Steph, Billy Magnussen as Adam, Lolly Adefope as Dag, Darren Goldstein as Pat, and Isaac Powell as Bryson. Richard E. Grant and Daniel Brühl will appear as recurring guest stars.
Iannucci is best known for creating Veep, the satirical comedy starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as a fictional vice president of the United States. Veep ran for seven seasons from 2012-2019, winning 17 Primetime Emmy Awards, including three for Best Comedy Series. For Mendes, The Franchise is the first television series that he created. Mendes directed several Oscar-winning films, including American Beauty, Skyfall, and 1917.
The Franchise’s executive producers are Mendes, Iannucci, Brown, Julie Pastor, Nicolas Brown, Pippa Harris, and Jim Kleverweis.
Lights. Camera. Anxiety.
The HBO Original Series #TheFranchise premieres October 6 on @StreamOnMax. pic.twitter.com/GlyMrKl0jU
— HBO (@HBO) September 9, 2024
The Franchise premieres at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Sunday, October 6. It will air on HBO and stream on Max.
