‘Archer’ creators reflect on show’s emotional conclusion: “It’s so hard for us to say goodbye”

The creators of Archer have reflected on show ending with the 14th and final season this month.

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Back in May, FXX announced that the Emmy-winning animated spy comedy would be coming to an end in 2023.

After 14 seasons and nearly 150 episodes, the show ended with the finale ‘Archer: Into the Cold’ over the weekend (December 17).

The show’s creators have reflected on the emotional conclusion of the show, which first aired in 2009 and follows the exploits of a dysfunctional intelligence agency starring H. Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer – who also voices Bob Belcher in Bob’s Burgers.

“It’s so hard for us to say goodbye to this world, say goodbye to these characters,” said executive producer Matt Thompson in an interview with Den Of Geek.

“You will hear a couple of speeches in these episodes which I hope do not feel too heavy handed,” he added of the three-part finale arc. “One by Lana and one by Cyril. In each one, we are kinda talking to ourselves about moving on with grace, even if we do not want to. And about celebrating what we did achieve.

“We would all love to go on making this show a few more years, but we cannot let that overshadow what we did accomplish. So, like our characters are preaching, we are all attempting to move on with joy in our heart for the time spent with co-workers who became family.”

Asked whether they would ever consider developing the series into longer movie events, Thompson responded: “We would love the opportunity to keep exploring these characters and their world. We are going to take a break for a while, but eventually, I am going to hit up FX with a folder full of movie ideas. The first one is going to be about Archer thinking he is Columbo (that just came to me!).”

In a separate interview with Rolling Stone, creator Adam Reed reflected on the show coming to an end and revealed his favourite episodes. “I really like ‘Skytanic’ and I just rewatched — and really like — some of the ‘Dreamland’ season and ‘Danger Island’,” he said.

“I know those were quite polarising for the fans, but they were very fun to write.”

He added that he’d spent the past few weeks reviewing old episodes and finding “laugh-out-loud moments” along with “a surprising number of scenes that I have no memory of writing”.

He went on: “It’s nice to see how many great guest stars we’ve had over the years, and there are moments you can remember where everybody had to take a break during the VO session because everybody was laughing. It’s wonderful and bittersweet and sad to watch Jessica’s scenes.”

Jon Benjamin, meanwhile, told Screen Rant that he would “hold out hope that maybe it’ll get revived somehow, adding: “It was sad, but it, of course, had to come to an end at some point.”

Elsewhere, FX’s hit vampire mockumentary comedy series What We Do In The Shadows is set to end with its upcoming sixth season.

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