It’s official. Broad City will be signing off for good after Season 5. Fans of the Comedy Central hit will surely be sad to say goodbye to lovable New York stoner chicks Abbi and Ilana after all these laughs. However, according to the network, the show’s stars show felt it was nearing the end of its run and wanted to wrap things up rather than “overstretch it.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter (THR) Comedy Central president Kent Alterman said the decision to end Broad City was a creative one.
“It’s more of a creative thing than anything. It’s a show about two 20-somethings in New York, and Abbi and Ilana are smart about not wanting to overstretch it beyond plausibility,” he told the magazine. “They’re telling a particular story about post-college era in New York. It’s an organic conclusion to the journey that they’ve been on.”
When asked whose decision it was to end the show, the network executive said that the fate of Broad City’s Abbi and Ilana were in the end handed to, well, Abbi and Ilana.
“Ultimately it was their decision — where they want to resolve the characters’ stories. We’d never want them to overstay their welcome,” Alterman told THR. “It was really driven by creative storytelling and when is a natural life [of the show]? We’re thrilled with five seasons of a show like this. The last thing we’d want is them to pretend they’re younger than they are and contrive and force it. The thing that matters to us more than anything is the creative integrity of the storytelling.”
In a joint statement, Jacobson and Glazer, who in addition to starring in Broad City created it and have written all 50 episodes (along with additional writers), shared their love for the series and looked forward to the future.
“Broad City has been our baby and first love for almost 10 years, since we started as a web series. It’s been a phenomenal experience, and we’ve put ourselves into it completely. Broad City’s always had a spontaneous pace and feeling, and ending after Season 5 honors that spirit. We are very excited to bring new voices and points of view to Comedy Central and continue our collaboration together in new ways,” Glazer and Jacobson said in a joint statement.
The comedians have signed a deal with Comedy Central and its parent company Viacom that grants the network first bid at new projects coming from the stars together or separately. They currently have three projects in development; however none of them will star the actresses or be written by them.
Here’s a brief look of the upcoming shows in the works tied to the ladies of Broad City, as per THR:
Mall Town USA is a cartoon about a 13-year-old girl going through puberty and American mall culture. Jacobson and Glazer are executive producing.
Platinum Status is a comedy written by, starring and executive produced by Glazer’s brother, Eliot Glazer. He’ll play a gay man who finds himself with a woman after his boyfriend of a decade leaves him. Glazer is also executive producing the show (as well as Arrested Development’s Will Arnett, among others).
Finally, Young Professionals focuses on the youngest White House speech writer ever (he’s written for Obama – enough said), David Litt. Litt will, not surprisingly, write the show and executive produce. Jacobson and Glazer will also executive produce.
Season 5 of Broad City debuts on Comedy Central in early 2019.
And be prepared to say goodbye for real because a Broad City spinoff or movie following Abbi and Ilana in their 30s is not in the works.
“We’re really driven by the creative integrity of the storytelling. The last thing we’d do is start to contrive something for them. We’ll take it as it comes,” Alterman said.