Let us put away all thoughts of the “coma seasons” of Archer, which were only intermittently fun — season eight’s retro private-eye Dreamland had some good moments, but season 10’s 1999 got lost in space rather quickly. Really, all they did was make us miss Archer (voiced by H. Jon Benjamin) and his Archer comrades in their element: slinging suggestively dirty jokes, merciless insults, and far too many cocktails while still managing to be mostly successful international secret agents.
Season 11 saw a revived Archer likewise revive the FXX series as it returned to form; now, with a brand-new, hilarious trailer for season 12, the very adult animated series looks poised to deliver more vintage-style Archer. To which we say, bring on the PAM-PAGE!
Man, that just looks so, so good. We’ve got Archer threatening a bunch of tabletop wargame players, Dirty Harry-style (“Call. Me. Knave. Again.”), the return of phrasing (with extended gestural accompaniment), and the “second-biggest lube wall” Cheryl Tunt (Judy Greer) has ever seen, plus some kind of plot about fighting climate change — which in this context means Archer gets a gorilla friend and everyone gets to run around punching people in the jungle.
Here’s the official season synopsis: “In season 12 of FXX‘s comedy Archer, Sterling Archer and gang face a new threat: a spy conglomerate known as IIA (International Intelligence Agency). With a limited number of spy jobs up for grabs, can the Agency compete against the soulless vultures of IIA, or will our mum-and-pop spy agency be the next to get swallowed alive?”
There’s some uncharacteristic poignancy to go along with this trailer, since the wonderful Jessica Walter (who voiced Archer’s mother, Malory) passed away earlier this year. It’s unclear yet how the series will handle her death, but the actor will still appear in season 12 — as the instant classic moment in this trailer (Malory on butterflies: “What’s with all these overly decorative pests?”).
Archer season 12 premieres August 25 on FXX in the U.S. Stay tuned for an Aussie release date.