Lucky Yates, Archer's Krieger actor, reveals his pitch for a hilarious Doctor Who-like spin-off of the popular spy comedy. Since Archer essentially acts as a spoof on spy films, seeing it move into satirizing even more genres wouldn't come as a surprise. The series' shift from espionage into street crime in season 5, known as Archer Vice, was met with plenty of praise from audiences who appreciated the fresh take on the hilarious and often dysfunctional characters. As such, it could be interesting to see a wacky spin-off that goes deeper into sci-fi territory and turns that genre on its head.
A staple of the sci-fi genre and the past 59 years of pop culture, Doctor Who is one of the most famous and enduring science fiction series in history. Now coming up on its 60th anniversary, the long-running British series follows a character known as The Doctor, a powerful and empathetic being who takes various human (and sometimes alien) companions along for his adventures throughout space and time in a ship resembling a police box known as the T.A.R.D.I.S. With Archer's Krieger acting as the 'doctor' of the series in his role as head of the ISIS Applied Research Department, he would certainly be an interesting choice for a parody of the Doctor Who character.
Related: Why Daniel Craig Is The Perfect Archer Cameo
In an exclusive interview with Screen Rant, Yates discussed his idea for a sci-fi spin-off à la Doctor Who. According to Yates, it would build on Krieger's interactions with Area 51. See his full idea below:
Speaking of, I got a Doctor Who-esque Krieger spinoff waiting to go. 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. So it's really Krieger and the ladies, and they're both against him.
Yates' idea, while hilarious, also sounds extremely plausible in the Archer universe. The set-up for alien contact, as Yates says, was already established within season 6, episode 7, "Nellis," when Pam and Krieger meet aliens in Area 51. Since nothing really came of that interaction afterward, a spin-off in which Krieger takes the knowledge he gained from the aliens and applies it would be the ultimate pay-off. And with Krieger and Pam's hilarious interactions and rapport when they got lost together in that episode, they would make for a very entertaining pair to watch on-screen as 'Doctor' and companion. Yates even plays on The Doctor's relationship with the T.A.R.D.I.S. by having Krieger build his own 'hologram girlfriend' in the form of his 'space van's' AI. With Krieger's many references to the fact that he's not an actual doctor, he already shares a key similarity with the character, who will soon be played in Doctor Who season 14 by Ncuti Gatwa.
There's been no word on whether the current season of Archer, season 13, could be its last, so there is possibly more coming down the pipeline for Archer fans. However, if the series were to wrap up its main plot, perhaps there would be room to play with spin-off ideas that allow the series' brand of humor and parody to live on in fresh ways. Yates' Krieger spin-off pitch would be a great place to start.