HBO's Funniest Sci-Fi Series Was Buried By Real World Events And Was Unceremoniously Canceled
By TeeJay Small | Published
Back in 2019, as I was catching the last episodes of the Silicon Valley on HBO, I remember eagerly waiting to see what each member of the comedy team would do next. This was especially the case with Zach Woods, whose off-the-wall performance as Jared turned me into a fan for life. Just as the credits rolled on the final episode, I was treated to a promotional ad for a new HBO series called Method 5with Zach Woods front and center. I was hooked before the pilot hit the airwaves, and I stayed tuned until a global pandemic, a shutdown, and a writers' strike ended the series before it reached its natural conclusion.
If you missed it, Method 5 was a comedy series created by Armando Iannucci, centered on a starship full of wealthy passengers titled. Iannucci is a brilliant Scottish filmmaker best known for creating HBO Veep and directing the 2017 satire Death of Stalin. Zach Woods has joined the cast of Method 5 with a lineup of comedy powerhouses, including Josh Gad, Rebecca Front, Suzy Nakamura, and The houseby Hugh Laurie.
Your Standard Cruise, IN SPACEEEEE!
The first episode of Method 5 it opens up to a not-so-distant future, where space travel is as common as taking a cruise across the Caribbean. The iconic spaceship belongs to a billionaire doofus named Judd (Josh Gad), who insists on burning through his fortune and attaching his gold-plated name to anything he can get his hands on. At the beginning of the show, the Avenue 5 ship is disrupted by a technical malfunction, which extends its timeline to return to Earth from eight weeks to three years.
As the wealthy passengers enter nervously, they are comforted by the confidence of Captain Ryan Clark (Hugh Laurie). Unfortunately, Clark is a big fraud, his entire role on the ship is a public relations facade. The true captain, who is the engineer of Avenue 5's course, was killed during a routine space flight, leaving the ship without rudder. As the show progresses, Clark tries to get professional training from engineer Billie McEvoy, so he can get everyone home on time. But, as he discovers this crash course, the ship is beset by problems, including failing oxygen levels, overflowing toilets, and conspiratorial VIPs.
The Right Show at the Wrong Time
The first season of Method 5 premiered in January 2020, just in time for the news of the coming pandemic. By the time the season ended, nationwide shutdowns had begun, and producers began to fear that the live-action film industry would never return to normal. When the writing staff was finally able to get together to write a second season, there were rumors of an impending WGA strike, which officially took place in 2023. By the time the second season aired, many of the main stars had outlived their contracts, and audiences had lost hope in the show.
A few months after the end of the second season, Method 5 has been officially canceled by HBO. The series ended on a cliffhanger, but still delivers a satisfying ending for super fans. While it's an unbearable shame that we'll never see the series reach its proper conclusion, it's still worth a watch for sci-fi and comedy fans alike. If you'd like to check out this off-the-wall comedy of errors, be sure to get up Method 5 on HBO Max today.
