Before season five, Thompson told us that the decision to make Archer Vice came from the fact that creator and showrunner Adam Reed was “bored.” Reed was concerned that the stories were becoming repetitive, so they shook things up and turned Mallory’s disbanded agency into a cocaine operation. They lacked the organizational skills of a major cartel, and it didn’t help that Pam was eating and snorting all of the merchandise, but it was certainly fun. Season seven will be another “big departure” for Sterling, in that he will have a new, but familiar boss.
“Everything is so wide open, and Adam just figured out what is the story that he wants to tell,” Thompson explains. “That is what has led us to where we’re at for season seven, which is our gang is picking up, moving to L.A., and opening the Figgis Detective Agency.”
It’s not quite Hawaii, but Los Angeles offers way more in terms of storytelling. Reed always knows where the next season will take us as the current one is ending, with the details usually coming after one of his epic vacations, and season seven simply seemed like the right time for Sterling to fulfill his Thomas Magnum fantasies.
“Adam knew exactly where it was going,” Willis says. “He doesn’t plan out every episode of the season, but he always knows where he wants to start and where he wants to end. As we were ending season six, putting on the sunglasses, we definitely knew where we were going and we also knew what the end of season seven is going to be.”
The obvious question is: Why is it the Figgis Detective Agency? Just as Magnum often had to answer to the by-the-books Higgins, Sterling will be answering to the only man actually qualified to become a private investigator.
“Cyril is the owner and operator, and is the only person who is a licensed detective,” Thompson reveals. “This is because, and this is the actual law, you have to have 2,000 hours of training and field work as a private detective to have your private detective’s license. Unless you have a law degree, and since Cyril has a law degree, he is the only one who can open a private detective agency. Technically, Archer works for Cyril and is accumulating hours toward his own private investigator degree. That obviously creates a lot of new, great tension, which is Cyril being the guy in charge.”
