It’s time to head back into the Danger Zone with the ISIS crew. The second season of FX’s animated comedy ARCHER premieres January 27 and promises to bring even more espionage and sexed up workplace hijinks than the first season with Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin), Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler), Malory (Jessica Walter), and the rest of the gang ready to wreak more hilarious havoc on the international scene.
Daemon’s TV was there when creator/executive producer Adam Reed and star Aisha Tyler answered questions about Lana’s ambitions, the Lana/Archer relationship, and what we can expect in season two.
On what to expect in season two
When asked about Archer‘s second season, Adam joked, “I would say it’s easily 85% as good as season one” and Aisha countered, “I will go you one better and say it is 89% as good.” It sounds like season two will be offering more of the Archer we grew to know and love on a bigger scale. Aisha explained, “We were able to range a little bit farther afield. It feels like we have more missions and spend a little more time out in the world. There are incredibly funny historical references and we learn a little bit more about the characters and their lives. We learn more about Woodhouse and how frickin’ awesome is Woodhouse?”
Adam jumped in to say, “One whole episode is Woodhouse’s experiences in World War I,” and then he teased, “The body count goes way up, Archer continues his quest to find out who his father is, and Archer falls in love for real, which leads to the explosive season finale, which I am just writing today, hopefully by lunch.”
When asked if Archer would indeed find his father this season, Adam replied, “As I’m writing the explosive season finale today by lunch, we may or may not. It depends where the morning takes me.”
Speaking of running gags, when asked about them, Adam explained, “A lot of times, I’ll go to [running gags] when I’m stuck. Actually, the episodes don’t always air in the order they’re written, so a callback to another joke will wind up seeming like a very prescient call forward to this joke three episodes later and I have no control over that. It just makes me look smarter than I am.”
On the “Swiss Miss” season premiere
In the season premiere, the ISIS team is called to Switzerland to protect the precocious daughter of a “captain of industry” and they encounter a new group of evil to-doers, who, as Aisha described, “just sound mean and European and they drink wine out of glasses with no stems. You know, just lowlifes. And they are planning on kidnapping this young lady and hilarity ensues. Mainly we just all sleep with each other. There’s always time for sex on Archer in between the high intrigue.”
Aisha said the mission poses a special challenge for Archer because the “young girl who’s underage really becomes an albatross for Archer. For the first time, he displays some self-discipline and it backfires. For once Archer has it all together and none of us believe him because his normal M. O. is douchebagness.”
We can expect dancing monkeys, a snowmobile race, and for Malory and Pam to “bond in a special way.” Adam said we will see the invention a new drink called the Green Russian, and Aisha teased, “Wonderful things happen after people start drinking the Green Russian. Malory explodes. Somebody catches on fire; somebody has their wedding jewels in their tackle boxes. There’s nudity; there are dancing bears.”
Aisha said, “I think it’s really wonderful because it’s a classic Archer episode, but also it’s also really smack dab in the middle of all the great espionage movies. It’s very spy-y and action-y and it’s great that the show is animated because we could never afford to do ten seconds of the big chase scene we have in the middle of the episode. It’s really explosive and really funny-it’s the perfect combination of what we do best on the show, which is a combination of international elegance, high intellectualism, and dirty jokes.”
On guest stars in season two
Jeffrey Tambor will return as Len Trexler, the head of rival spy agency ODIN. According to Adam, “Malory, who has her ongoing financial troubles, will consider selling ISIS to ODIN, which doesn’t sit well with the other ISIS employees.”
Adam also teased, “Rachael Harris plays a movie star who shadows Lana to research a role, much to the chagrin of the ISIS employees. There’s a lot of chagrin this season.” About Rachael’s character, Aisha said, “[Lana's] flattered. She’s baited and lured to letting this girl shadow her. It ends up being mainly what you would think, which is having this young, idiotic numbskull bobbing around ISIS throwing wrenches into everyone’s ill-formed drunken plans. Then there’s a big twist. That’s a great episode.”
On Lana
Aisha described Lana as “a long-suffering professional surrounded by douchebags, who also has her own issues and problems.” Adam added, “She’s a mess,” and Aisha agreed. “She’s a complete mess, but she’s also the one who goes out and tries to get the job done… Lana is the only one who’s all about the work. Hey, you know, there’s a planet to be saved.”
Adam said there would be a showdown of sorts between Lana and Malory this season. “There’s a two episode arc where one of the characters deals with a devastating illness and Malory and Lana have a showdown at the beginning of that arc. We find that Lana’s definitely not scared of Malory and whatever deference she shows her is by choice. Lana’s not afraid to use her words.”
Aisha agreed and said that Lana “thinks she’s a pearl among really drunk and irresponsible swine and she’s very ambitious. She thinks that Malory needs to go out to pasture at some point. She envisions herself behind that large, dinged, and slightly damp desk at some point in her career.”
On Lana’s relationship with Archer
Talking about Lana and Archer, Aisha said, “I think if there’s anyone who can equal Archer or mollify him in any way, it’s Lana. Archer is so driven by libido. Most of the women he sleeps with are disposable, but Lana is the only one who knows him as a person and is also super-sexy and does what he does for a living and he can learn from. They also often operate as a team, so he finds himself drawn to her-this sort of terrible attraction he doesn’t understand so he mocks and scorns it. He circles her against his will.”
Even though Aisha said that Lana is “definitely the yin to [Archer's] yang,” we shouldn’t expect to see them involved in a bonafide relationship because she thinks Lana is smarter than that. “They might have some sort of terrible twelve day affair in a hotel room. but will they ever be together? I doubt it.”
Aisha said one of her favorite lines of season two comes when she calls Archer a “bag with which one douches,” which Adam said was the “thinking man’s douchebag.”
When asked if Lana could actually tame Archer, Aisha said, “The only person who could tame him is his terrible, drunken mother, but he can run from her because he doesn’t want to sleep with her. He alternately runs from her and then fixes her drink.”
The second season of Archer premieres on FX Thursday, January 27 at 10pm eastern/9pm central.
You can read all our Archer coverage here.
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