'Archer' Canceled: Why Season 14 Will Be Its Last

FXX has announced that Archer will end after its next upcoming season, and many fans are grappling with the bittersweet news. Archer has stood the test of time for nearly a decade and a half, and has managed to be more innovative and experimental than most animated series along the way. While it is an undeniable success, many fans will be sad to see the series end after Season 14.

Last month, Deadline reported that Archer Season 14 would premiere on Aug. 30 on FXX, but the news came packaged with the sad revelation that this would be the show's last season. It will air two episodes to kick the season off followed by one episode per week. The episodes will premiere on cable but will be available to stream on Hulu the following day. The last few seasons of the show have had eight episodes, so Sterling Archer's final mission might be another short one, although so far the network has not revealed how many episodes the season will have. 

Archer stars H. Jon Benjamin as Sterling Archer, a spy who generally succeeds by mistake – if he succeeds at all. The show is generally praised for its cultural commentary and its zingers, with dialogue being one of its strong suits. The show has a distinctive art style which is itself a parody of the mid-twentieth-century style when spy thrillers were at their peak of popularity. As the show has become more popular, the animation has become more dynamic without sacrificing its trademark style. However, detractors of the show have criticized its crude humor, and of course, some viewers simply can't get invested in the unusual appearance of the show overall.

Like many shows that have run for this long, Archer's most recent seasons have been reflective and self-referential as the show grapples with its own legacy in real-time. The show has evolved to focus more on Sterling's growth as a character and seems to promise some semblance of an arc before the end comes.

The upcoming season will focus heavily on Lana Kane (Aisha Tyler) as well. Lana is now the head of The Agency and hopes to somehow use her intelligence agent skills to make the world a better place while making money at the same time. According to the logline for the new season, she will find that difficult to balance. The rest of the main cast is returning as well – Judy Greer as Cheryl, Chris Parnell as Cyril Figgis, Amber Nash as Pam Poovey, Reed as Ray Gillette, and Lucky Yates as Algernop Krieger. The newest addition to the main cast is Natalie Dew as Zara Khan.

Archer Season 14 premieres on Aug. 30 at 10 p.m. ET on FXX, and episodes will stream the following day on Hulu. Fans who want to catch up before the big finale can stream previous seasons on Hulu.