The first trailer for HBO’s superhero satire The Franchise is here and pledges disturbing analogies involving fast food chain Subway, studio fires, goats, voicemails, and a ton of internalised panic at every other given moment.
Developed between Sam Mendes (1917), Armando Iannucci (The Thick Of It), and Jon Brown (Succession), the series, courtesy of a logline from HBO, “follows the crew of an unloved franchise movie fighting for their place in a savage and unruly cinematic universe.”
“The comedy series shines a light on the secret chaos inside the world of superhero moviemaking, to ask the question — how exactly does the cinematic sausage get made? Because every f*ck-up has an origin story.”
In the trailer, as featured below, the chaos on a superhero movie set is best summarised by Himesh Patel, who plays Daniel, describing the film as “a scrotum resting on a razor’s edge.”
Quaintly put.
The Franchise stars Himesh Patel (Tenet), Aya Cash (The Boys), Jessica Hynes (Doctor Who), Billy Magnussen (Road House), Lolly Adefope (Ghosts), Darren Goldstein (The Affair), Isaac Powell (Our Son), Richard E. Grant (Loki), and Daniel Brühl (Captain America: Civil War).
Brown has taken up the mantle as showrunner while Mendes steps in to direct the pilot, penned by Brown. Collectively, the executive producers behind the series are Mendes, Pippa Harris, Nicolas Brown, and Julie Pastor for Neal Street Productions; Armando Iannucci for Dundee Productions; Jon Brown and Jim Kleverweis.
The Franchise airs on October 6, 2024, at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and will be available to stream on Max.
In other HBO-related news, George R.R. Martin, the author behind Game of Thrones, criticised the creators of House of the Dragon for their handling of a significant storyline in Season 2.
