FX is ramping up its animation business with a pilot order for a comedy from Danny DeVito and Rick and Morty co-creator Dan Harmon.
The Disney-owned cabler has given the greenlight to Little Demon, which will star DeVito (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), his daughter Lucy DeVito and Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, FX's Legion). Darcy Fowler, Seth Kirschner and Kieran Valla created the show, which has been in development for several months, and Harmon will be an executive producer.
Little Demon centers on a reluctant mother (Plaza) who 13 years earlier was impregnated by Satan (Danny DeVito). She and her Antichrist daughter (Lucy DeVito) try to live a normal life in Delaware but are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who wants custody of his daughter's soul.
FX Networks currently has just one ongoing animated series in the long-running Archer, plus shortform showcase Cake, which offers a mix of animated and live-action pieces (both air on FXX). As TV animation has boomed in the past couple of years, the cabler has looked for more animated properties to pair with Archer.
Animation also has the current advantage of being able to continue production during coronavirus "safer-at-home" orders, whereas live-action scripted shows are largely shut down. Production on Little Demon is set to begin next week.
Danny DeVito's Jersey Films 2nd Avenue — which has a first-look deal with FX — is producing the pilot with ShadowMachine and FX Productions. Executive producers are Harmon, Fowler, Kirschner, Valla, Plaza, Danny, Lucy and Jake DeVito for Jersey Films 2nd Avenue and Monica Mitchell, Corey Campodonico and Alex Bulkley of ShadowMachine. Steve Levy is a producer.
Plaza and the three creators have worked together on several projects in the past, including a 2016 pilot for TBS called Nightmare Time.
Jersey Films 2nd Avenue is repped by CAA and attorney Joel Behr.
Deadline first reported the news.
