JACK THE RIPPER Time-Travel Comedy Series MERRICK & TREVES Coming From the Creators of ARCHER

Jack the Ripper is getting an animated comedy series involving time travel, and the creative team behind Archer is making it happen. HBO Max has ordered two seasons of Merrick & Treves, a new half-hour animated series that mixes Victorian-era history, a notorious serial killer, and a group of unlikely heroes traveling through time.

The series comes from Adam Reed, Casey Willis, and Lucky Yates, the creative talents behind Archer and Frisky Dingo. With Archer having wrapped up its 14-season run, it's great to see these guys getting back together for another animated comedy, especially one with such a strange and entertaining premise.

The official description reads: “Set inside Queen Victoria’s top secret Royal Temporal Constabulary, Merrick & Treves follows a team of unlikely heroes as they voyage back and forth through time in an effort to stop Jack the Ripper.”

A secret Victorian police force that travels through time to hunt Jack the Ripper? That's a pretty fun concept, and it sounds like exactly the kind of ridiculous material the Archer team could have a lot of fun with.

While HBO Max hasn't revealed much about the characters, the title points to two actual historical figures with connections to Victorian London.

Joseph Merrick, better known as the Elephant Man, was exhibited in freak shows during the 19th century before coming under the care of surgeon Sir Frederick Treves. Merrick eventually lived at the London Hospital in Whitechapel, the same neighborhood where Jack the Ripper committed his infamous murders.

Bringing these historical figures into a time-travel comedy opens up some interesting possibilities, especially with Reed, Willis, and Yates developing the series. It'll be interesting to see how much real history makes its way into the show and how completely absurd things get.

The three creators shared their excitement about joining HBO Max, saying: “The three of us are beyond excited to have found a home for Merrick & Treves at HBO. We can’t wait to start working with the creative team behind so many of our favorite shows. It’s actually quite daunting, now that we think about it. Like, holy shit, y’all. HBO.”

There's no casting information yet, but both Reed and Yates have plenty of voice-acting experience. Yates is particularly well known for voicing Dr. Krieger on Archer, so it would be fun to hear him take on another eccentric character.

Of course, it would also be great to see H. Jon Benjamin get involved. The actor voiced Sterling Archer and continues to play Bob Belcher on Bob's Burgers. His unmistakable delivery could be a perfect fit for this kind of comedy.

HBO Max hasn't announced a premiere date, but the two-season order is a promising start for the project.

Via: Deadline