‘Veep’ Pair Chris Addison & Will Smith Team On Fantasy Detective Series ‘Warlock Holmes’

EXCLUSIVE: Veep pair Chris Addison and Will Smith have reunited to create a transatlantic fantasy detective series, Warlock Holmes (w/t).

The British multihyphenates are writing the series, which is described as Princess Bride-meets-Game of Thrones. The project already has a British broadcaster lined up and I hear that the project has been the talk of LA as it is being pitched to U.S. broadcasters.

It’s thought that the series is being produced by Avalon Television, the UK/U.S. production company behind comedies such as Channel 4 and Amazon co-pro Catastrophe and HBO’s Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

Addison and Smith – not that Will Smith – have worked closely together on HBO political comedy Veep with Addison directing a number of episodes and Smith writing on the show alongside creator Armando Iannucci. The pair were both Emmy winners as the Julia Louis-Dreyfuss comedy won Outstanding Comedy Series in 2015 and 2016, while Addison was nominated for Outstanding Director and separately won a Directors Guild of America award for directing.

It is the latest project for Addison, who just completed directing MGM’s The Hustle, a Jac Schaeffer-penned remake of Frank Oz’s Steve Martin/Michael Caine hit Dirty Rotten Scoundrels that stars Rebel Wilson and Anne Hathaway.

Deadline also revealed in April that Addison, who also starred in The Thick Of It, is to direct period comedy-drama Hallelujah!, about composer George Frederick Handel, starring The Grand Budapest Hotel’s Ralph Fiennes. The movie is being produced by Rush producer Andrew Eaton and Yardie producer Gina Carter.

Meanwhile, Smith, who previously appeared alongside Sacha Baron Cohen and Ricky Gervais in C4 comedy The 11 O’Clock Show, has written on The Thick Of It, Channel 4’s Jo Brand social services comedy Damned and David Mitchell and Robert Webb’s C4/Sundance series Back.