Inside The Archer Season 7 Writers’ Room Part 3

Editor’s note: The Fourth Wall is knocking down barriers between entertainment industry talent and the audience. This recurring feature is a platform for creators, actors, and industry insiders to bring the readers behind the scenes of the production process. In our latest installment, we removed the curtain on the writers’ room for the seventh season of FX’s hit animated comedy, Archer.

This part of the walkthrough looks at episodes eight through ten from Archer’s seventh season. Click here to read part 1 and part 2.

Archer Season 7 Episode 8 – Liquid Lunch

“The on-again, off-again relationship of Archer and Slater causes a rift in the on- again, off-again relationship of Archer and Lana.”

Written by Adam Reed

DEN OF GEEK: We return to Slater in this episode! He was a pretty crucial part of not only last season, but also season five, too. Why did you want to revisit that relationship?

ADAM REED: We are absolutely bonkers for Christian Slater. He is so great at his job, and at being an exceptionally nice person.

He even functions as a nice reminder of how much the show has transformed over the past few years. Was bringing that comparison front and center part of the idea here, too?

Again, with a better writer, it probably would have been. But with me I think it was probably just a coincidence.

Speaking of Project MKUltra, have you seen American Ultra? Thoughts? 

I have not. Although when I was a kid, I used to love Ultraman – but that’s probably not related.

It looks like you’ve done a lot of research into CIA testing. Do you have a favorite messed up testing program?

Not the testing so much, but my favorite CIA plan was the one where they tried to figure out a way to kill Castro with an exploding cigar.

Will we ever see any of Krieger’s “Jojo Dancer” at some point?

Sadly, I think it will close after one night.

What do you see as the circumstances around Malory killing seven people with a shovel?

I assume it was during World War II. Hopefully.

It’s nice to see Lana calling Archer out on his behavior with Veronica here. Did you feel it was important to show the realistic consequences to Archer’s actions earlier this year?

Things seem to be very slowly becoming more realistic on the show. At least in terms of actions having consequences – less so in terms of clones and cyborgs.

Archer Season 7 Episode 9 – Deadly Velvet: Part I

“Archer and the gang are hired by renowned director, Ellis Crane, to investigate suspicious activity on the set of his new movie, ‘Deadly Velvet.’”

Written by Adam Reed

With the “full circle” dynamic of this episode bringing everything back together, was there ever thought of structuring the entire season on the set of Deadly Velvet and doing cases from that position?

No, but I knew we would spend the last couple of episodes on the set.

We get a welcome Cyril and Malory pairing that turns out to be a pleasant surprise. They work quite well as a team. How exactly did you fall upon them ending up together here?

Possibly by default, but I realized later that Cyril has done the only bit of actual detective work this entire season.

Does Malory know that Pam is a woman? 

I think she does, but also that she wouldn’t be surprised to find out that Pam was indeed a man.

It’s an interesting decision to have Archer and Veronica hook up—even if he and Lana are on a break. Any reservations on this front?

Not really. I think it cheesed off some fans, but they were in fact on a break, and the “old Archer” presumably cheated on Lana – that’s why they broke up – and nobody seems to have minded that.

At one point did the episode show any of Krieger’s on-set skulking?

I’m pretty sure he’s in there, skulking around skulkily.

Archer’s in a pretty big moral area at the end of this episode. Is it nice to put these characters through these sort of tests as a season winds down?

It’s always nice to test them – I’ve always liked that old saying that you should “get your hero up a tree and throw rocks at him.”

Archer Season 7 Episode 10 – Deadly Velvet: Part II

“Things get even deadlier on the set of ‘Deadly Velvet’ when someone turns up, you guessed it, dead.”

Written by Adam Reed

Talk a little bit about the larger cyborg plan this season. Did you know from the start that you wanted Krieger’s mad science to be a large part of the season?

ADAM REED: Yes. That was the plan (almost) all along.

Did you have any reservations about how much you would call back or mention the clones? It’s a fine line between reminding the audience that these things exist and potentially ruining the ending with Archer’s death.

I always have reservations about everything, but generally trust the audience – and the notes from FX – to make sure all the bases are covered.

Congratulations on the final beat of the episode. It really connects and subverts expectations perfectly. What do you have to say to people that might question this show’s ability to kill off its main character?

That we are insane, and we will kill your babies.

Archer has such a fantastic full cast that could you see a version of the show operating without Archer?

Maybe The Poovey Files, where Pam is a hard-boiled 1940’s private eye.

Anything that you wanted to say with this season that you didn’t get around to?

Yes, a kajillion things, but there is never enough time.

What are you hoping to achieve with next season? Have you even started thinking about it yet?

I’m mainly hoping to keep people watching (and have fun while doing so).  And Season 8 is more planned out than any of the previous seasons have been.