‘Archer: Dreamland’ Teasers Riff on 1940s Noir

Danielle Ryan
TV Animation
TV Animation

For its eighth season, FX’s Archer reinvents itself again, this time as a 1940s detective story. The series started as a James Bond-esque spy spoof, following the misadventures of the employees of the unfortunately-named spy agency ISIS. When the formula was starting to get stale, the series got a reboot in the form of Archer:Vice. This Miami Vice-style reboot was then un-rebooted for season six. Season seven saw another reboot, this time with the Archer crew working as private detectives. Now, Archer: Dreamland will take the crew back to the 1940s.

Archer‘s place in time has never been all that concrete. The first few seasons featured clothing and technology similar to the 1960s, but also included modern gadgets and pop culture references. Archer: Vice was pretty strongly influenced by the 1980s, so the time jump to the 1940s isn’t too much of a stretch. The show’s ambiguous timeline is part of the fun and allows creator Adam Reed to get as weird as he wants. The series is also moving from FX to its sister network, FXX, which hosts the network’s raunchier shows.

Season seven of Archer ended with a huge cliffhanger, with protagonist Sterling Archer left full of bullets, face-down in a swimming pool. Dreamland is likely set inside of Archer’s comatose mind. Here’s the synopsis from FXX:

Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that revolves around the hardboiled private eye Sterling Archer and his quest to find his partner’s killer in 1947 Los Angeles. The case proves to be more difficult than expected after Archer quickly gets mixed up in a deadly game of tug of war between Los Angeles’ most powerful crime bosses. Every clue leads Archer further away from his goal and deeper into a mystery involving kidnapping, prostitution and drug addiction.

Archer’s murdered partner is Woodhouse. The character was Archer’s butler and manservant who helped raise him when his mother Mallory was too busy having affairs with Italian diplomats to bother. Woodhouse went missing in season six, as the actor who voiced him, George Coe, passed away in 2015.

Archer: Dreamland airs on FXX this spring.

Danielle Ryan
A cinephile before she could walk, Danielle comes to Fandom by way of CNN, CHUD.com, and Paste Magazine. She loves controversial cinema (especially horror) and good cinematography; her dislikes include romantic comedies and people's knees.