About Avenue 5 (HBO)

Avenue 5 is a science fiction comedy television series created by Armando Iannucci that premiered on HBO in January 2020. The show is set in the future, where space tourism is a booming business. The narrative follows an interplanetary cruise ship called Avenue 5, which encounters multiple technical faults and ultimately gets knocked off course, extending the journey home to several years.

Making / Production

The production of Avenue 5 was largely handled by HBO, as part of the network's wide array of original programming. The set design for the show required extensive work to build a believable and impressively large cruise ship in space. Filming took place in London, UK.

Actors

• Hugh Laurie as Captain Ryan Clark: A charming and confident figurehead of Avenue 5, whose actual competence isn’t as great as the image he projects.
• Josh Gad as Herman Judd: The billionaire owner of Judd Galaxy, he is vain, narcissistic, and oblivious of the actual affairs within his company.
• Zach Woods as Matt Spencer: The ship’s head of customer relations, whose cynical view of humanity and dark humor often clash with the crew's professionalism.
• Rebecca Front as Karen Kelly: A passenger who takes it upon herself to serve as the unofficial troubleshooter for the ship’s other disgruntled travellers.

Trivia / Interesting Facts

• The series was first announced in September 2017 and was ordered for a full season by HBO in 2018.
• The exterior of the Avenue 5 ship is actually a CGI model that's over 35 feet long.
• Last-minute reshoots for the season finale were required due to a large earthquake that hit California during the initial filming.

Quotes

• "Running a ship, you have to look like you're having fun so other people feel fun." - Captain Ryan Clark
• "Space is to place... what waist is to waste. A lot of extra letters that you don't need." - Herman Judd
• "We should’ve flown with Singapore Space. They have pool access and they whiz back and forth in days.” - Karen Kelly

Music, Soundtrack

• The original score for Avenue 5 was composed by Adem Ilhan.
• While the series does not feature any notable or top-charting popular music, the score is heavily themed around electronic and futuristic sounds to complement the setting.
• Each episode ends with the Avenue 5 theme song, a mellow and quirky tune played over the show's credits.