On Sunday, May 23, Adult Swim will premiere The Bleepin’ Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special, half-hour of animated sketch comedy and music based on the world of Archie Comics, as reported by TV Line. The network uploaded sample of the special to YouTube as an unlisted video on May 20. The clip features the voices of Jane Lynch (Glee, A Mighty Wind) as Miss Grundy, Betty Gilpin (GLOW, The Hunt) as Veronica Lodge and Jared Harris (Carnival Row, The Terror) as Mr. Weatherbee, TV Line reports. You can check out the entire clip below:
The Bleepin’ Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special will allegedly exist on the same timeline as the 1972 Hanna-Barbera animated series Josie and the Pussy Cats in Outer Space: “Archie (Fred Armisen, Moonbase 8) faces the action-packed return of Josie and the Pussycats from outer space to Riverdale,” via CBR. Josie’s singing voce will be provided by Cree Summer (Rugrats, Codename: Kids Next Door), but her speaking voice belongs to Rachael Leigh Cook (Perception, Titan Maximum), as reported by Variety. Cook portrayed the character in the 2001 live-action Josie and The Pussycats film, which has grown into something of cult movie in the time since its home video release.
Another set of characters from the film set to appear in the Robot Chicken special are the members of the boy band DuJour, who were portrayed by Breckin Meyer (SuperMansion, Franklin & Bash), Donald Faison (The CW’s The PowerPuff Girls, Scrubs) and Robot Chicken co-creator Seth Green (Family Guy, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery), according to TV Line. In addition to Josie and the Pussycats, as well as Archie and his friends in Riverdale, the special will also feature appearances from teen witch Sabrina Spellman (Clare Grant, Team Unicorn) and her aunt Hilda (Katee Sackhoff, Longmire), TV Line reports.
Robot Chicken currently holds the distinction of being Adult Swim’s longest-running program to date, having aired upwards of two hundred episodes for well over decade and a half, according to CBR. Previous specials have offered comedic takes on The Walking Dead, the Star Wars franchise and the DC Comics universe, all of which are properties that already have lasting legacy and cultural impact. Although a season eleven renewal order has yet to arrive, in a July 2020 interview with SyFy Wire, Green reflected upon the unlikely longevity of his own passion project. “We prepared our audience for the reality that we could be canceled literally every season. The show wasn’t planned to be a show. It wasn’t conceived to ever be successful and especially not be [sic] a long-running employment opportunity for anybody… We just try to do the best we can with the opportunity we’ve got season to season… Our plans for the show are to make it for as long as people wanna watch it,” Green stated, via SyFy Wire.
The Bleepin’ Robot Chicken Archie Comics Special arrives on Adult Swim at midnight on Sunday, May 23, via TV Guide.