Animated spy comedy Archer was announced to end with Season 14 before the season even premiered, so there was every reason to expect that the finale that aired on October 11 in the 2023 TV schedule was the last time that fans would see the likes of Sterling Archer (H. Jon Benjamin), Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler), Cyril Figgis (Chris Parnell), and the rest of the hilariously bizarre cast of characters. Now, however, FX has announced that the show is already set to return to television with a three-part finale event, which really sounds like an approach to cancelled shows that I think every streamer and every network should take.
While Archer wasn't quite cancelled in the sense that fans were blindsided by the news following the last episode of the season, the Season 14 finale was expected to be the end of the road for the spy agency. Instead, FX announced at New York Comic Con that Archer is getting a bonus finale event, called Archer: Into the Cold. It even already has a premiere date: Sunday, December 17 at 10 p.m. ET, simulcast on both FX and FXX. The animated series originally aired on FX before being moved to FXX for Season 8 onward.
The network didn't announce what exactly the plot is going to be for Archer: Into the Cold, and I for one am curious about how much time will have passed for Archer and Co. before the finale event picks up. The Season 14 finale ended with a 30-day deadline for the spy agency; will that deadline have expired by the time the Into the Cold episodes air, or will they still have time left?
Only time will tell if FX and FXX dish many details ahead of the finale event, but just knowing that it's happening has me thinking about all the shows that would have benefited from this approach. How many have been cancelled too late for the team behind the scenes to actually craft a finale to tie off loose ends? How many have ended on cliffhangers that will never be resolved? And how many fans are waiting for closure that will never come?
If only every network and streamer followed FX's example in following the end of a final season with one last event, so many cancelled shows could have satisfying endings. The May cancellation bloodbath earlier this year cut short a number of series without giving them time to wrap up. Other recent shows to get the axe without a proper conclusion include Hulu's How I Met Your Father (to the vocal dismay of fans) and Amazon Prime's The Wilds despite cast members sharing thoughts on a third season,
Plus, there are older shows that lack actual endings, including Hannibal (which Mads Mikkelsen has repeatedly shown interest in continuing) and the original Quantum Leap. Then there are the recent cancellations despite previous renewals, which include Prime's A League of Their Own and Peripheral. If any or all of these shows got a few bonus episodes or even a TV movie to tie off loose ends, they could be remembered for having great endings instead of known for ending without any answers. Don't even get me started on Good Girls or Legends of Tomorrow!
And sure, some shows couldn't wrap up every loose end and answer every question in the span of a few bonus episodes, but I truly wish that every premature cancellation could be followed by at least something that would count as a proper goodbye. I wouldn't have been mad if Archer ended with the Season 14 finale as originally expected (and ending with fourteen seasons can hardly be called a premature cancellation), but I'm awfully excited that FX gave the order for the three-part event later this year.
Of course, the three-part finale event won't debut until December 17, but you can find all fourteen seasons streaming now with a Hulu subscription.
