HBO Max has given a series order to an animated show set at the North Pole during the Christmas season — but it's decidedly not for kids.
The soon-to-launch WarnerMedia streaming platform has greenlit eight episodes of Santa Inc., an adult animated show that will star Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen. The series, created by Shrill showrunner Alexandra Rushfield, comes from Lionsgate and Rogen, Evan Goldberg and James Weaver's Point Grey Pictures, which has a multi-platform content deal with the studio.
"I have long dreamed of a taking a beloved holiday tradition and adding a feminist agenda and some R-rated comedy, and when I read this script from Ali, with Seth and Sarah attached to voice, I knew that it was a perfect fit for us at Max," said Suzanna Makkos, executive vp original comedy and animation at the streamer.
Santa Inc. centers on Candy Smalls (Silverman), the highest-ranking female elf at the North Pole. When the successor to Santa Claus (Rogen) is poached by Amazon on Christmas Eve, Candy goes for her ultimate dream — to become the first female Santa in the history of Christmas.
"Sarah and Seth are the perfect comedy duo for this empowering and very funny animated series shepherded by the hysterical Alexandra Rushfield," said Scott Herbst, head of scripted development at Lionsgate. "We look forward to diving into the world of animation with our Point Grey partners, and to bring the holidays to HBO Max in a totally unexpected and fresh way."
Along with Point Grey, Rushfield, Silverman, Amy Zvi and Rosa Tran (Anomalisa) will executive produce.
Silverman is repped by UTA, Thruline and Ziffren Brittenham. Rogen is repped by UTA, Principal Talent and Felker Toczek, and Rushfield is with UTA and ZIffren Brittenham.
Santa Inc. is one of several adult animated series in the works at HBO Max, including a revival of The Boondocks, season two of Gen:Lock and a Gremlins prequel set in 1920s China.
HBO Max is set to launch May 27 with a handful of original series and some 10,000 hours of library content from across WarnerMedia properties, including Friends, Game of Thrones, The Big Bang Theory, The Sopranos and films from the Warner Bros. studio.
