HBO's 'Avenue 5' Space Cruise Comedy Gets a Jan. 19 Launch Date, New Trailer

Warning: Some adult language in the trailer above.

A second trailer for HBO’s new space comedy "Avenue 5" starring Hugh Laurie has arrived and it promises madness and mayhem aboard a luxury space liner, called (as the series name suggests) the Avenue 5. This is not Virgin Galactic suborbital space tourism, this is full-scale interplanetary indulgence.

The series begins as Avenue 5's is en route on its eight-week flight around Saturn. Everything looks "OK-to-go," but when the ship unexpectedly develops technical difficulties, it’s up to Capt. Clark (Laurie) and his crew to calm the upset passengers and find a way to deal with the unfortunate events unfolding on board.

Related: In Photos: The First Space Tourists

Hugh Laurie stars as Captain Ryan Clark of the luxury space cruise ship, Avenue 5, in the new HBO comedy series. (Image credit: HBO)

Some great scenes from the trailer include a conversation about the NASA budget of a potential rescue mission, "Is that the figure … or the phone number we have to call to get the figure?"

This marks not only the latest venture from Armando Iannucci, the man who conceived the Emmy award-winning political satire, "Veep," but it also reunites Iannucci with Laurie, who starred in several very successful British comedies before turning his hand to drama like “House” and satire like "Veep."

Josh Gad, Zach Woods, Nikki Amuka, Rebecca Front, Lenora Crichlow, Suzy Nakamura and Ethan Phillips co-star.

"Avenue 5" is set to premiere on HBO on Jan. 19, 2020. Sky Atlantic will probably broadcast it in the U.K., as it has an exclusive rights deal with HBO, but is this is yet to be officially confirmed.

Follow Scott Snowden on Twitter. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.  

All About Space banner

Need more space? You can get 5 issues of our partner "All About Space" Magazine for $5 for the latest amazing news from the final frontier! (Image credit: All About Space magazine)

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Scott Snowden

When Scott's application to the NASA astronaut training program was turned down, he was naturally upset...as any 6-year-old boy would be. He chose instead to write as much as he possibly could about science, technology and space exploration. He graduated from The University of Coventry and received his training on Fleet Street in London. He still hopes to be the first journalist in space.