‘Rick and Morty’ Creator Dan Harmon Bringing Animated Ancient Greece Comedy Series to Fox in 2022

Dan Harmon is returning to network TV with a new animated comedy series set in mythical ancient Greece. The Rick and Morty creator has set an animated comedy series at FOX, which plans to premiere the yet-untitled series in 2022.

Dan Harmon was burned before by network TV, infamously fighting to keep his NBC cult comedy hit Community on the air after he was let go and brought back, only for the show to be canceled and saved by Yahoo (only to subsequently tank Yahoo’s attempt to make television). So it wouldn’t be a surprise if the writer-producer never returned to network TV after finding an even bigger following over on the animated cable network side with his massive Adult Swim hit Rick and Morty. But now, Harmon is returning to prime time, but this time under the relative security of an animated show.

FOX has ordered an animated comedy series from Dan Harmon that is set to premiere in 2022, announced FOX Entertainment president Michael Thorn. The yet-untitled animated series is set in a mythical ancient Greece and centers on “a flawed family of humans, gods and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.” Voice casting for the series is currently underway and will be announced in the coming months.

“Leave it to Dan Harmon to turn the mythos of early Greek civilization into remarkably sharp commentary on today’s politics, celebrity and pop culture,” said Thorn. “This project is an incredibly irreverent family comedy as told by one of the town’s most inventive storytellers. We are proud to be partnered with Dan on this series, which strengthens our hold on the animation space and, as we continue to build FOX Entertainment, marks an important first step for us with our first fully owned scripted property.”

The series is an outgrowth of the direct animation deal that Harmon and FOX Entertainment struck last year, and will be wholly owned and financed by the production company, with Fox’s Emmy-winning animation studio Bento Box Entertainment, producing. The project is the first series under the deal to fall under FOX’s broadcast direct model.

While the animated series sounds unlike Harmon’s most popular shows, it’s easy to see why a mythical fantasy comedy would come from the Dungeons & Dragons nerd who has hosted a long-running comedy show-turned-podcast featuring him and celebrity guests playing role-playing games. Considering the kind of meta-humor that has characterized both Community and Rick and Morty, we can probably expect a smart, witty comedy series that does to the fantasy genre what Community and Rick and Morty did for the sitcom and the sci-fi genre, respectively.

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