Flight of the Conchords’ Jemaine Clement Denies HBO Renewal Rumors
Rumors have been swirling this week about an HBO renewal of the music-comedy series Flight of the Conchords, following statements from band member Jemaine Clement in a recent interview with The Guardian. “It was supposed to be this year,” Clement told the publication, in reference to a new “four-episode comedy” on the network. But according to Clement, this new series has nothing to do with the fan-favorite Conchords, which ended its two-season run in 2009.
“Before this rumour gets out of hand – we are not working on a 4 ep Conchords show for hbo,” Clement tweeted Tuesday night. “I am working on another idea with them though, hence the mix-up.”
Sad news indeed. But as Uproxx notes, the actor-musician also discussed other, more epic, options he and co-star/bandmate Bret McKenzie could take for a reunion project.
“We talk about a movie every so often,” he said. “Sometimes it feels like we lost a lot of impetus over the last couple of years. But Bret, [lead director] James [Bobin] and me, we all want to do a musical. It would be good to do something all together…I miss playing Flight of the Conchords gigs.”
The Flight of the Conchords series started off in primitive form as a BBC Radio program before finding a home on HBO. The show, which followed fictionalized versions of Clement and McKenzie as they struggled to find gigs (and real jobs) in their new home of New York City, ran for two acclaimed seasons.
In late 2009, the duo announced they would not be making a third season. They did, however, reunite for a successful live tour in New Zealand. Clement has found a number of minor film roles (Rio, Men in Black 3), and is currently promoting his new horror-comedy film What We Do in the Shadows, a mockumentary about living as a vampire in modern society (which saw wide New Zealand release in June).
McKenzie has found success writing music for films, serving as music supervisor for two Muppet revival movies, 2011’s The Muppets and 2014’s Muppets Most Wanted. One of his tunes for the former film, “Man or Muppet,” won an Academy Award for Best Original Song.
“When I sat down to write ‘Man or Muppet,’ I was listening to a lot of Harry Nilsson,” McKenzie told Rolling Stone back in March. “I love those power ballads he did. The production on those are just fabulous. Eric Carmen’s song ‘All By Myself’ was a big influence as well…there’s a lot of top-notch soft rock that went into the making of that song. And Paul Williams for the lineage and the brilliance, obviously; ‘Rainbow Connection’ is a perfect Seventies pop song. But mostly it was me doing a Harry Nilsson rip-off. Sorry, I meant to say ‘tribute.'”