Fox has ordered Son of Zorn, a live-action-meets-animated comedy ala Who Framed Roger Rabbit? that will star Saturday Night Live alum Jason Sudeikis, reports Variety.
In the show, the title character Zorn (voiced by Sudeikis) is an animated warrior who returns home to Earth where he reunites with his son, Alan, who will played live by Johnny Pemberton (21 Jump Street) and his ex-wife Edie, played by Curb Your Enthusiasm’s Cheryl Hines. The plot of the show will apparently show that dealing with his live action son, combined with a boring job and mundane suburban life, proves more difficult to the warrior than warring in his homeland of Zephyria.
There’s no word yet as to how the show will explain Zorn’s animated likeness, but it should be interesting to see how it all fits in.
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The show will be executive produced by Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Seth Cohen from The Last Man on Earth (which stars another former Saturday Night Live cast member, Will Forte), along with Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Eric Appel, who also directed the pilot. The pilot episode was written by Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne (Wilfred), and the pair will serve as showrunners.
David Madden, Entertainment President at Fox, calls the show’s concept “utterly unique” and “very, very funny.”
Alongside Sudeikis, the show will also feature yet another actor from SNL days past in Tim Meadows.
Sudeikis has a number of projects in the works right now, but hasn’t been on the small screen much since his departure from SNL a few years ago, spending time in a few comedy features. His last major role was in 2014’s Horrible Bosses 2.
It seems the hybrid live action and animated comedy genre is on the rise, with several networks hoping to offer a new take on the old trick. Earlier this week, NBC purchased the single-camera comedy Donuthead from Adam and Naomi Scott, which would combine animated elements with the live action story of an 11-year-old, anxiety-ridden boy with a wild imagination who is navigating life with his single mother. Meanwhile, ABC is also working on Imaginary Friend, where an animated childhood imaginary friend visits the man who created him, now in his 30s.
