Television

'The Afterparty' Is A Murder-Mystery Comedy From Chris Miller And Phil Lord

By Chris Evangelista

Apple is still hoping you'll pay attention to their original programming, and they might have just found the title to get you to do just that. The company just won the rights to The Afterparty, a comedy series about a murder mystery, created by none other than Phil Lord and Chris Miller. The eight-episode series will focus on the events of a single night, with each episode retelling the same story from a different perspective.

In what's described as a "competitive situation" – a term that seems to accompany all Apple TV+ news – Apple has given a straight-to-series order for Chris Miller and Phil Lord's The Afterparty. The series is "a murder-mystery comedy set at a high school reunion afterparty. Each of the eight episodes will feature a retelling of the same night told through a different character's perspective, each with its own unique visual format and film genre to match the teller's personality."

This concept – the same event retold from different perspectives – is a staple of whodunnits. Even the recent Knives Out included it. But it's the "unique visual format and film genre" approach that's going to help distinguish The Afterparty. That, and the involvement of Lord and Miller, whose names carry a certain weight thanks to their successful work on 21 Jump Street, The LEGO Movie, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and more.

Miller will serve as creator, showrunner, and executive producer of The Afterparty and Lord will executive produce. The series will be produced for Apple by TriStar TV and Sony Pictures Television, where Lord and Miller currently have an expansive five-year overall television deal. There's no cast attached yet, but we'll hopefully be learning more about that soon.

I continue to be puzzled by Apple TV+. Apple is a huge company, and their streaming service has a wealth of big names attached – J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, M. Night Shyamalan, Oprah, and on, and on. And yet, there's almost no buzz about their original programs. The Morning Show made some headlines when it premiered, but beyond that, there's been very little talk out there about Apple TV+. But The Afterparty sounds highly promising, and I look forward to seeing how it turns out.

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