Jordan Peele’s “Twisted-Ass Science Fiction” Anthology ‘Weird City’ Coming To YouTube Premium
Jordan Peeleshocked the world with his directorial debutGet Outearly last year, and he’s been remarkably busy ever since. His list of active projects has grown to an impressive length, and now he’s adding yet another one to the top of the pile: a show calledWeird City, which he calls a “twisted-ass science fiction” anthology series. The show is coming to YouTube Premium next year, and you can read more about it below.The Hollywood Reportersays that Peele is teaming up with his formerKey & PeelecollaboratorCharlie SandersforWeird City, which “is set in the not-too-distant future metropolis of Weird. Each episode will explore issues that pertain to present-day life in Weird — stories that can only be told through the prism of sci-fi and comedy.”
In 2015, it looked like this show was going to move forward at Hulu, but it fell apart there. And despite the fact that Peele just signeda first-look deal with Amazon Studiosearlier this month,Weird Cityended up being acquired by YouTube Premium for six episodes with a straight to series order. Here’s what Peele had to say:
“Writer/creator Charlie Sanders and I collaborated on someKey & Peelesketches that took on everything from the ‘Black Republicans’ to ‘Continental Breakfasts’ to ‘Family Matters.’ Now, with YouTube we present a series of comedy driven twisted-ass science fiction stories that take place in a world close to ours but just a little bit off.”
Sanders is a hilarious comedian, writer, and performer in his own right. (I’ve seen him at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater multiple times.) To get a taste of how Peele and Sanders work together, here are all of those sketches Peele mentioned in that statement:
Jose Molina(The Tick) will serve asWeird City’s showrunner, andAdam Bernsteinis set to direct the first two episodes. Bernstein has been directing TV since the 1990s, helming shows like30 Rock,Breaking Bad,Scrubs, Orange is the New Black, andFargo.Weird Citywill join YouTube Premium’s (formerly known as YouTube Red) growing roster of genre projects, which currently includes Doug Liman’sImpulseand aRobert Downey Jr.-hosted show about artificial intelligence.
Meanwhile, Peele hasBlack Klansman,Us, and maybeGet Out 2coming on the feature film front. His additional TV projects includeLovecraft Countrywith J.J. Abrams, a Nazi-hunting drama calledThe Hunt, and a reboot ofThe Twilight Zone.
