Bonafide comedy kings?Phil Lord?and?Christopher Miller are taking their talents to Apple TV+ with the new murder mystery comedy show?The Afterparty. Lord and Miller are no strangers to the world of television, having worked together and individually in a variety of roles on shows including (but not limited to) Clone High,?How I Met Your Mother,?Hoops, and?Bless the Harts. Now, with?The Afterparty, Lord and Miller will join an already strong line-up of comedies in the works at Apple TV+, who have already greenlit shows from Schmigadoon, starring Cecily Strong, to Platonic, starring?Rose Byrne?and?Seth Rogen.
The Afterparty?takes a?Rashomon-like approach to the murder mystery (with a heavy dose of comedy) genre as it follows the events of a murder at a high school reunion afterparty. Over the course of eight episodes, each of the characters at the center of the story will get a chance to tell their version of events to Detective Danner (Tiffany Haddish) and her partner, Detective Culp (John Early). The characters at the high school reunion include: Aniq (Sam Richardson), a loveable escape room designer who hopes to reconnect with his high school crush, Zoe; Zoe (Zo? Chao), a former artist turned school administrator who is newly separated from her high school sweetheart; Yasper (Ben Schwartz), Aniq’s relentlessly positive best friend who dreams of a career in music; Brett (Ike Barinholtz), Zoe’s ex-husband, an arrogant, former high school athlete; Chelsea (Ilana Glazer), the former high school valedictorian and class president; Xavier (Dave Franco), a formerly dorky high school drama student who is now a famous pop star and actor; and Walt (Jamie Demetriou), once ignored throughout high school, he attends the reunion with hopes to be remembered.
The only problem I have with?The Afterparty?at this point is that I cannot watch it immediately. This series is packing some serious comedy heat with its cast — and that is a major?selling point. There are some mini-reunions happening here, including Franco re-teaming with Lord and Miller post-21 Jump Street, as well as?The Oath?co-stars Haddish and Barinholtz coming back together. It will be interesting to see how the Lord and Miller flavor plays out within the confines of a murder mystery comedy built for streaming. And, to be clear, I don't think there's any chance it will be bad; it will simply come down to whether The Afterparty?is very good or very great.
We'll keep you posted as?The Afterparty?develops. In the meantime, get even more Apple TV+ updates here.
Allie Gemmill is the Weekend Contributing Editor for Collider. You can follow them on Twitter @_matineeidle.