Jordan Peele Sci-Fi Anthology 'Weird City' Ordered to Series at YouTube
Set in the not-too-distant future, the comedy anthology will explore the issues of everyday life in the city of Weird.
Jordan Peele is continuing to expand his TV footprint.
The Academy Award winning writer-director of Get Out has set sci-fi anthology series Weird City at YouTube. The straight-to-series pickup comes less than a month after Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions inked an overall TV deal with Amazon Studios.
Co-created and written by Peele and Key & Peele's Charlie Sanders, Weird City is set in the not-too-distant future metropolis of Weird. Each episode will explore issues that pertain to present-day life in Weird — stories that can only be told through the prism of sci-fi and comedy. The six-episode series is expected to debut on YouTube Premium in 2019.
Weird City is produced by Monkeypaw Productions, Sonar Entertainment, Mosaic and Raskal Productions. Adam Bernstein (Fargo, Scrubs) is set to direct the first two episodes. Jose Molina (The Tick) will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Peele, Sanders and Bernstein will also executive produce alongside Monkeypaw's Win Rosenfeld, Sonar's Tom Lesinski and Jenna Santoianni, Mosaic's Sam Hansen and Jimmy Miller and Raskal's Keith Raskin and Linda Morel.
"Writer/creator Charlie Sanders and I collaborated on some Key & Peele sketches that took on everything from the ‘Black Republicans’ to 'Continental Breakfasts’ to ‘Family Matters’," Peele said. "Now, with YouTube we present a series of comedy driven twisted-ass science fiction stories that take place in a world close to ours but just a little bit off."
Peele has been developing Weird City for several years, and the project was set up at Hulu as far back as 2015. Since then, Peele's profile has grown significantly following the critical and awards success of Get Out. Earlier this month, Peele announced that his Monkeypaw was on the move from Sonar Entertainment to Amazon Studios, where he an overall TV deal. He already had Nazi drama The Hunt and documentary series Lorena set at the streamer. Meanwhile, his Twilight Zone reboot with Simon Kinberg and Marco Ramirez will debut on CBS All Access.
The project will expand YouTube's genre offerings. Currently, the Google-owned platform has Doug Liman's Impulse, which premiered June 6. An untitled artificial intelligence docuseries also has been ordered to series.
"We are thrilled to be in business with Jordan, Charlie and Jose, who have brilliantly created a highly entertaining satire that will be a timely send up of modern society," said YouTube content chief Susanne Daniels. "We are excited to partner with Sonar Entertainment and all of the innovative storytellers behind Weird City to push boundaries and redefine what a comedy series can be."
YouTube recently rebranded its subscription video product (formerly YouTube Red) as YouTube Premium. The service costs $13-per-month and offers ad-free video and music streaming and access to a slate of original programs including Cobra Kai and Step Up: High Water.
