EXCLUSIVE: Ben Stiller is set to star in and executive produce Protective Custody, a new comedy series from Mike Judge (Silicon Valley), Steve Hely (Common Side Effects) and Dave King (Parks and Recreation) that Apple is developing with an eye toward a series order.
Marking the first leading comedy series role for Stiller, Protective Custody will follow a disgraced financier accused of massive fraud who is thrown into protective custody, where he must navigate prison politics, salvage his reputation, and confront the consequences of his actions while awaiting trial.
Protective Custody will be co-written, co-showrun and executive produced by Judge, Hely and King, with Judge attached to direct. Hailing from Apple Studios, Red Hour, Propagate Content, and 3 Arts Entertainment, the show will also be exec produced by Stiller and John Lesher for Red Hour; Ben Silverman (The Office, Stick), Howard Owens, and Rodney Ferrell for Propagate Content; Michael Rotenberg (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Silicon Valley) and Oly Obst (Nobody Wants This, Will Trent) for 3 Arts Entertainment; and Academy Award nominee Nanette Burstein.
The project reunites Judge with Hely and King following their collaboration on Common Side Effects, the Peabody Award-winning adult animated series from Adult Swim. It also marks the latest collaboration for Apple TV and Propagate Content on the heels of the acclaimed Owen Wilson comedy series Stick, as well as the doc The Last First: Winter K2.
For Stiller — an Emmy and DGA Award winner — Apple is now something of a creative home. He comes to Protective Custody after directing on and exec producing two seasons of their Emmy-winning drama Severance and also released his passion project doc Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, on parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, with Apple. Additionally, he produced and stars in The Dink, a pickleball comedy from director Josh Greenbaum that the studio releases on July 24. Currently, he’s in production on Apple TV’s miniseries The Off Weeks, where he’s EP and stars opposite Jessica Chastain. That show has him playing a divorced writing professor navigating a dangerous romance in his “off weeks” from parenting, amid split custody.
Later this year, Stiller returns to the Focker-verse with Focker-in-Law, the latest film in his Meet the Parents comedy franchise, which Universal releases on November 25. He’s also recently inked a deal to star opposite Nicholas Galitzine and Bella Maclean in a new Netflix film called A Matter of Time from Enola Holmes helmer Harry Bradbeer. He is repped by WME,
VIE, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
An Emmy winner and Golden Globe nominee, Judge is best known for his series Silicon Valley, Beavis and Butt-Head, and King of the Hill, which currently is airing its 15th season via a Hulu revival. He is repped by WME, 3 Arts, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.
Hely and King are both repped by 3 Arts and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis. Hely is also with WME.
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