Just two months after we last saw Tom Haverford treat himself for the last time on Parks and Recreation, star Aziz Ansari has already landed his next series. Netflix has granted the hilarious actor and stand-up comedian a series order for his very own show. This marks roughly the jabrillionth project Netflix has put into orbit since the beginning of the year.
The new series, which Ansari co-created with Parks and Rec co-executive producer Alan Yang, will see a ten-episode Season 1. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have a name just yet, or an official plotline to accompany the order. According to Deadline’s sources, however, the show will revolve around “semi-autobiographical elements and deals with dating and relationships.” That doesn’t exactly sound like the most dazzlingly original bare-bones description, but more Ansari is never a bad thing. (And it kind of fits in with what I wished for last year.)
Though the show’s plotline is a mystery, we do know a handful of the talented actors that will be joining Ansari.
First we have the comedy mainstay and instantly recognizable voice actor H. Jon Benjamin, who is currently starring as the titular leads in Bob’s Burgers and Archer. (He co-starred in an episode of Parks and Recreation in Season 2.) As well, Dear White People producer and occasional Bones writer Lena Waithe will take on her first starring TV role, though she also appeared in an episode of The Comeback’s second season last year.
The multi-hyphenate Eric Wareheim, of Tim and Eric fame, will also be on board, along with recurring Saturday Night Live actress Noël Wells, most recently seen on Season 4 of Comedy Bang! Bang!. TV vet and Cloverfield co-star Kelvin Yu, last seen on USA’s Satisfaction, rounds out the list of presumed regulars. A notable guest star mentioned is Homeland’s Claire Danes, who should add a bit of potentially neurotic fun to the process.
This will be Ansari’s third venture with Netflix. His early stand-up specials are currently available, and the streaming service produced his 2013 special Aziz Ansari: Buried Alive and his latest special Live at Madison Square Garden, which premiered in March 2015.
Aziz Ansari’s new show, which I kind of hope will end up being the title, is currently in production in New York with The Spectacular Now director James Ponsoldt behind the camera, which means we might end up seeing it by the end of 2015. And that’s definitely worth a round of whiskey lotions.
