Home Entertainment Phil Lord and Chris Miller team up for live-action/animated hybrid comedy series SON OF ZORN

Phil Lord and Chris Miller team up for live-action/animated hybrid comedy series SON OF ZORN

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Phil Lord and Chris Miller, the creators of The Lego Movie have proved themselves capable of taking on some rather unusual or seemingly bad ideas and turning them into a success. I for one, never expected The Lego Movie or 21 Jump Street reboots to be a success initially and yet somehow they have found a formula that resonates with people and not to mention making films that are really funny.

And their next project will see them take on another idea that may seem bizarre at first, but could have the potential for success. The pair are executive producing a new comedy series for Fox, which will be called Son of Zorn and will a mix of live-action and animation, as their lead character needs to chose between reconnecting with his live-action family or fighting a war in a faraway animated land.

The series will see Zorn (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) the defender of the island nation of Zephryia relocate back to Orange County to connect with his ex-wife (Cheryl Hines) who is now engaged to an online University professor (Tim Meadows) and his teenage son (Johnny Pemberton), as he tries to adjust to his new mundane lifestyle of being an industrial soap dispenser salesman. A far cry from being a mighty warrior.

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The concept is certainly a bizarre one and certainly offers some unique and different to the television market. The comedic talent lined up for the show is quite strong however, so the show should at least certainly be as funny as it is bizarre.

Lord and Miller describe the comedy series as another example of being shocked by what they’re allowed to get away with. As silly as the comedy series may sound, Miller told EW they actually took a grounded approach to the first season:

He tries to be a family man, but he is a barbarian warrior from another land who doesn’t quite fit in. The thing I like about this show is that while the premise is really outrageous and ridiculous, the tone of the show is finding the practical, real, understated minutia of daily life. And the parts of the show that feel the most interesting to me are the [ones that] play it relatively grounded for such a ridiculous concept.

Miller continued:

One of the big challenges is that you have to produce an entire live-action show at the cost of a live-action show, and on top of that, you have to animate a character. It’s almost like you’re doing two shows for the price of one. Or the price of a little more than one.

Its a challenging effort I’m sure ot mix the two formats together and an interesting, but understandable decision which will certainly add to the development costs of this show. The show’s co-creators are Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne (Wilfred). According to /Film, Jorne recently stepped down as co-showrunner due to creative differences, but both Agnew and Jorne are still involved and this has apparently not affected any plans for this first season. The first 13 episodes of Son of Zorn are expected to air later this year or in 2017.

Is Son of Zorn something you can see yourself watching or a concept that is perhaps a little too crazy to work?

Last Updated: May 16, 2016

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