'Archer: Dreamland' Teaser Trailers: Archer Reinvents Itself As A 1940s Noir

Though it started out as a spoof of James Bond-style spy stories, Archer's reinvented itself a couple of times over the past few years. There was that time it became a Miami Vice riff in season five, before "un-rebooting" itself in season six. It re-rebooted itself in season seven, this time as a Magnum P.I.-inspired private eye series. And it's getting yet another makeover for season eight, refashioning itself as a 1940s noir mystery called Archer: Dreamland. Get your first look via two new teasers below.

Archer season seven ended on a big cliffhanger, with (spoiler alert!) Sterling Archer left suspended in a pool and riddles with bullets. But rather than pick up where that story left off, Archer season eight will go into a "dreamland" state. So... what exactly is going on, here? Well, here's the synopsis:

Archer is an animated, half-hour comedy that revolves around the hardboiled private eye Sterling Archer and his quest to find his partner's killer in 1947 Los Angeles. The case proves to be more difficult than expected after Archer quickly gets mixed up in a deadly game of tug of war between Los Angeles' most powerful crime bosses. Every clue leads Archer further away from his goal and deeper into a mystery involving kidnapping, prostitution and drug addiction.

The murdered partner mentioned above is Woodhouse, whose character went missing in season six. The actor who voiced Woodhouse, George Coe, passed away in 2015.

The new setting allows Archer the opportunity to try on a whole new look, and the show seems to take to it very nicely. The show and characters have always been purposely anachronistic, so the shift to the 1940s isn't as jarring as it might be otherwise. At the same time, their crass spirit remains intact. Archer looks like just as much of a dick in 1947 as he does in the 2010s — and yes, I do mean "dick" as an insult there, not as slang for "detective."

Archer premieres this spring on FXX.