Lucky Yates Interview: Archer Season 13 (2024)

The four-time Emmy-winning animated spy comedy Archer is returning with season 13 on FXX. The series centers on the titular spy and his team of agents as they engage in a variety of missions across the globe while also dealing with their dysfunctional relationships.

Bob's Burgers star H. Jon Benjamin leads the cast of Archer in the titular role alongside Aisha Tyler, Judy Greer, Chris Parnell, Amber Nash, Lucky Yates, and Adam Reed, who also created the show.

Related: Archer Season 12 Finally Pays Off The Agency's Name Issues

Ahead of the show's return, Screen Rant spoke exclusively with star Lucky Yates to discuss Archer season 13, Krieger's ongoing bizarre adventures, his hilarious spinoff idea, and the only way a film adaptation could work.

Screen Rant: Archer, I've loved the show since it launched, It's crazy to see how long it's run.

Lucky Yates: Thank you, you grew up with it, it seems. You're a child in my eyes. [Laughs]

I mean, it launched in 2007, roughly, right?

Lucky Yates: Something like that, yeah, I don't know, whatever 13 years ago was.

2009, so yeah I was a teenager. [Laughs]

Lucky Yates: That sounds right. Alright, there you go. Prime Archer age. [Chuckles]

Exactly, the perfect demographic for it. How does it feel for you coming into season 13?

Lucky Yates: You know, every episode is a blessing, so the fact that we're still going 13 years later, I don't know that anyone was expecting it, but the show is still great. It's more bunkers than ever, I would say now, it's really all the characters are at their most them. It's really awesome, so it's great to see that the show has progressed, and the characters have progressed, and we're like, America's favorite dysfunctional spy family.

Oh, absolutely, you've progressed while also staying the same. It's perfect.

Lucky Yates: Exactly. I mean, it's a metaphor for life, right? You are who you are, and the those characters are who they are, and even though they can try to do better, they're still them.

What is it you feel about the show that continues to resonate and remain as popular as it has over the years?

Lucky Yates: Well, I think what we just talked about, it's not afraid to progress with the rest of the world. I mean, once upon a time, we worked for an organization called ISIS. Oh, no! [Chuckles] We're always like three-quarters of a step ahead of the world on our show.

That's not true at all, but we're not afraid to progress along with the zeitgeist, while remaining true to who we are, and it also being really funny. The writers are really amazing, the scripts are just super-duper, Casey Willis is knocking it out of the park as the showrunner. Everything's firing as well as it ever has, so, you know, why stop the train?

How different has it felt for you having Casey at the helm in comparison to Adam Reed after 10 seasons?

Lucky Yates: I mean, Casey and I are super close buds in real life. Not that Adam and I aren't, but we live in separate states, so it cuts down on the hangout time for a year. So going to work is really like I go hang out with my buddy Casey during a "work" week for a "work" thing for a while, and then I go home. [Laughs] It's great, I really am living the perfect life, it's wild. And it's all thanks to Archer. Thanks, Archer, please don't ever go.

Adam had discussed leaving at least the showrunner position after 10, and we've still got it going on now. How far do you think this could go?

Lucky Yates: I don't know. I mean, as long as espionage always exists, and political intrigue, I don't think that's going away anytime soon, how long's Bond been going on? By the way, Daniel Craig loves this show, so it's like we've been kissed by the Pope.

Does he? I don't think I've ever read that.

Lucky Yates: Oh yeah, he's a huge fan. He visited the studio when he was in town shooting some movie or other and his rep called the studio just to go like, "So, Daniel Craig is a huge Archer fan, and he wants to tour the studio where you make it." Everybody went scrambling and made the place ready, and it was [fun]. But yeah, he loves it.

That's awesome. If there's anybody you want a ringing endorsem*nt from, it's him.

Lucky Yates: So, you know, how long has that been going on? How long has Doctor Who been going on? How many seasons really could you have about a spaceman that travels around in a police call box, that don't even exist anymore? [Chuckles]

You're not wrong. I would love to see more of Archer.

Lucky Yates: Me too! Speaking of, I got a Doctor Who-esque Krieger spin off waiting to go.

Oh, do you?

Lucky Yates: Sure.

I mean, I would be down.

Lucky Yates: I'm really playing off the time that the aliens in Area 51 gave Krieger and Pam the secrets to the universe. I think there could be a great awakening at some point of that information and Krieger could build a space van. It's called Space Van, and it's Krieger and Pam doing the Doctor Who thing in a space van. And the space van's AI is Krieger's hologram girlfriend.

But of course, you can't have any kind of technology without her.

Lucky Yates: So it's really Krieger and the ladies, and they're both against him.

Well, I'll be curious to see what comes first, that or Poovey Farms, because Amber wants Poovey Farms, as well.

Lucky Yates: I know, Amber's got a real Klumps thing going on with that, it's brilliant, where she plays like all the Pooveys.

I loved the season 12 dynamic that Krieger had with Eric Andre's character, especially towards the end. Can we look forward to seeing more of that dynamic with any other characters coming into this season, since Colt sadly met his demise at the end of 12?

Lucky Yates: You know, I don't recall Krieger getting too buddy buddy with anybody this season, only because — not that Krieger is ever really considered to be an option for who's going to lead this group. But everybody is sort of competing with one another, so there is camaraderie, they of course work together, but they're also in competition with one another for something.

We recorded out of order and really spaced apart, so I don't remember big emotional moments, like I had when our sweet Colt died in Krieger's hands. I will say that Krieger, he does follow up on the promise to do weird science s--t that nobody else will do.

This season did also mark the first one that we've had without Jessica Walter. How was that for you?

Lucky Yates: I mean, you know, what can you do, life goes on. Jessica and I absolutely adored one another, and one of the biggest reasons is because we're both old theater people, I do have a theater degree. So we just get that the show must go on attitude is very much a part of the whole situation, you just lose people along the way. It's devastating, but I think as far as us using it in the show, we're not afraid to tackle modern day things that are going on, and so it's Archer dealing with the fact that his mother just upped and split on him in the show. You use it and I think Jessica would be really proud of us and I just sort of carry that along with us that I think she would love what we're doing with the show.

I've talked with Jon and Amber about it, but I'm curious, what are your thoughts on a possible Archer movie that we keep hearing about?

Lucky Yates: Hmm, what did Mr. Movie Star say, now that he's he's throwing movies out there? [Laughs] Of course I want an Archer movie, it'd have to be rated R. You gotta get everybody to be all in, like, "Yeah let's do this, for crying out loud, we're gonna have to really see Archer and Lana going down at some point, getting busy." We got a peek of it pretty gritty in one season, but you know, we're going a rated R movie.

Might as well go full on.

Lucky Yates: Watch out for Pam-page, that's all I'm saying, cartoon male full frontal during Pam-page. [Chuckles]

God forbid whatever Krieger gets up to during that.

Lucky Yates: [Laughs] Is the world ready for that, man?

I know I am, I don't know about the world.

Lucky Yates: What are you gonna do, soften it? No, if we're gonna do a movie, go all in.

There have been discussions of whether or not to bring it to live action or animated. Obviously Bob's Burgers stuck to animation, would you prefer it be animated over?

Lucky Yates: It goes to live-action, we're all out of jobs, what are you talking about! They're not gonna hire me, and suddenly I'm watching some thing where I'm like, "Huh, would have been cool if I was in that." So f--k live-action, it's gotta be a cartoon. [Laughs]

If you did live-action, then it wouldn't be Archer. The man delivering the lines that isn't Jon just isn't gonna be Archer. Anybody acting screwball that isn't Judy doing Cheryl — I mean, Judy could play Cheryl in live-action. That's the thing, Aisha and Judy, they're safe. The rest of us? No. Parnell, Parnell's safe too, the rest of us? I'm screwed.

My pitch is to get Jon Hamm to play Archer and then just have Jon dub over Hamm.

Lucky Yates: Only if they can do it live while it's being shot, like they sort of did with the Les Mis thing, where it was just like, "No, you're just gonna sing the songs and we're recording that, with that going into the studio later." So, as long as Jon's offset doing it live on a mic and what we get is the best take they had of Hamm trying to keep up with Jon, then yes.

That would be pretty amazing.

Lucky Yates: I'm gonna have to do it, because Eric Andre will probably end up playing Krieger. And then who am I, who am I, am I gonna be Colt? They're not even gonna let me be Colt! [Chuckles]

We gotta have Colt and Krieger together again.

Lucky Yates: Yeah, right!

Outside of Space Van, what would you like to see more from Krieger going into the show's future?

Lucky Yates: I mean, Krieger is one of those things that I don't know that you ever really want to see more of what's going on there. [Laughs] I mean, you do, but do you? As far as him, I would love little tastes of him dealing with the underbelly of dark science and where he gets pieces and parts and bodies and stuff like that. I think little dabs of that would be fun, but also, I would love him to build a giant robot to protect the city from any possible kaiju that might just come out of the ocean, we don't know.

It could happen.

Lucky Yates: It would be like a Voltron-esque robot, where each member of the team would have their own separate vehicle that would then form a giant robot and Archer is piloting the head.

Pitch it to Casey!

Lucky Yates: Don't think I haven't! They just roll their eyes. I have to take it to the press!

Well, okay, the press has got it, I'll put it out there!

Lucky Yates: Yeah, great, get the people excited! You know how it works today, I gotta get them likes and hits!

Exactly, gotta get your own "Release the Snyder Cut" movement.

Lucky Yates: That's it, man! [Laughs] "Release the Krieger Kaiju."

I've seen the first four episodes, and they're already very funny. I love the return of the episodic adventures. What has been one of your favorite things about this season so far?

Lucky Yates: Really that the characters are their most balls-out them, all throughout it. It's great, I hesitate to use the word zany, because we're not really a zany show, but we really walk a fine line of s--t gets zany this year! I love it, I think it's awesome, it's really great, people should be really excited. The show's in great hands.

Archer Season 13 Synopsis

Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that follows Sterling Archer as he navigates the changing landscape of the spy world. This season, Archer and The Agency have been acquired by Fabian Kingsworth and the spy conglomerate known as IIA (International Intelligence Agency). As the gang struggles to find their identity performing odd missions for Fabian, one question arises: will they be able to maintain independence, or will they succumb to their corporate overlords?

Check out our other Archer interviews:

• Amber Nash
• Aisha Tyler
• H. Jon Benjamin

New episodes of Archer season 13 air Wednesdays on FXX.