According to Deadline, English actor Himesh Patel (EastEnders) has signed on to join the cast of of HBO’s space comedy series Avenue 5. The series is executive produced by Veep creator Armando Iannucci. Patel will first be seen as Jack Malik in director Danny Boyle’s upcoming musical comedy drama Yesterday, his first lead role.
In the series, Patel is set to portray the role of a young stand-up named Jordan Hatwal. He’s official character description reads: “When he’s offered an eight-week-long residency on Judd Galaxy’s inaugural luxury cruise around Saturn he jumps at the chance to declare himself, ‘The Funniest Man in the Universe’. Unfortunately for him, comedy clubs in space famously have no atmosphere. And he doesn’t quite have enough material to last the journey. And his fragile self-confidence means it might not be long before he’s heckling himself. He’s had a few bad gigs in his time, but nothing that could possibly prepare him for this.”
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Avenue 5 is described as a space tourism comedy set 40 years in the future when the solar system is everyone’s oystery. With Hugh Laurie as the Captain, nothing can go wrong.
The series stars Golden Globe-winning actor Hugh Laurie (House) as Ryan Clark, the captain of the titular Avenue 5, Zach Woods (Silicon Valley) as Matt Spencer, Avenue 5’s Head of Customer Relations described as a nihilist who is also a nice guy who can’t wait to get to the end of his final cruise before promotion to a more senior role on earth, and Josh Gad as Herman Judd, the face and name behind Avenue 5 and the whole Judd brand, including hotels, fitness clubs, and space tourism.
BAFTA winner Rebecca Front (The Thick of It) plays Karen Kelly, a born leader who illicitly boarded Avenue 5 using her sister’s non-transferable ticket. Nikki Amuka-Bird (Luther), Lenora Crichlow (Deception) is Billie McEvoy, the second engineer. Ethan Phillips (Star Trek: Voyager) plays Spike Martin, an elderly space enthusiast and former astronaut who is a grizzled womanizer and heavy drinker, and Suzy Nakamura (Dr. Ken) portrays Iris Kimura, Judd’s right-hand woman.
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Iannucci serves as creator, writer and executive producer for the series. The Game of Thrones prequel starring Naomi Watts is the cable networks only remaining pilot following the series order of Avenue 5.
