Fox Orders Live-Action/Animated Hybrid ‘Son of Zorn’

Fox has ordered comedy Son of Zorn, a live-action/animated hybrid from executive producers Phil Lord and Chris Miller (The Last Man on Earth, The Lego Movie). Jason Sudeikis, Saturday Night Live alumnus, voices the animated legendary warrior Zorn, while Cheryl Hines plays his live-action ex-wife.

The series is scheduled to debut during the 2016-2017 season.

Upon arriving home on Earth for the first time in 10 years, Zorn finds that reconnecting with his live-action son, Alan (Johnny Pemberton), and ex-wife, Edie, while suffering through a mundane office job, is harder than war.

Tim Meadows (Saturday Night Live) also stars. 

David Madden, Fox entertainment president, calls the concept “utterly unique.”

“There has literally never been a show like this. And, of course, it is very, very funny,” he said. “The fantastically talented duo of Phil Lord and Chris Miller are yet again delivering precedent-setting television. Jason Sudeikis makes his animated character sound and feel live-action, and Cheryl, Johnny and Tim have incredible chemistry with him that crosses formats, genres and galaxies.”

Son of Zorn is produced by 20th Century Fox Television. Reed Agnew and Eli Jorne wrote the pilot and will be showrunners. Lord, Miller and Seth Cohen will executive produce alongside Agnew and Jorne. Eric Appel is director and co-executive producer.  

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.