HBO Max Orders ‘Clone High,’ ‘Velma,’ and ‘Fired on Mars’ Adult Comedies

New animated series underway with Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence; Mindy Kaling; and Pete Davidson executive producing.

Three new adult animated series are on the way at HBO Max, as the streamer just announced a two-season order for a reimagined Clone High, the Phil Lord, Chris Miller, and Bill Lawrence show that ran on Teletoon and MTV in 2002-2003; a 10-episode order for the Scooby-Doo spinoff, Velma, with Mindy Kaling starring and executive producing; and Fired on Mars, an existential workplace comedy starring and executive produced by SNL’s Pete Davidson.

The new series join a growing slate of upcoming HBO Max adult animated shows including Harley Quinn, The Prince, Santa Inc., 10 Year Old Tom, and The Boondocks.

“It is a tremendous privilege to build on the 100 year plus legacy of ‘cartoons’ at this company,” said Suzanna Makkos, EVP, Original Comedy and Adult Animation, HBO Max. “We can draw a straight line from our hundreds of childhood hours spent watching Bugs outwit Elmer to the current slate of adult animated projects we are building here at HBO Max and we think fans will agree. We are proud to introduce this distinctive group of series from a wide range of diverse creators that will form a first stop destination for animation lovers everywhere.”

Clone High is a modern refresh of the Lord, Miller, and Lawrence series set at a high school for clones of historical figures. Lord and Miller return as executive producers and writers. Lawrence is also returning as executive producer with Erica Rivinoja, (South Park, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) who wrote on the original series and returns as a showrunner. The series is produced by MTV Entertainment Studios.

The show, which ran in 2002 on Teletoon in Canada before airing on MTV, was originally developed by Lord and Miller in the 1990s while students at Dartmouth. It’s widely regarded as a time capsule of the early 2000s with its loving satire and wry parody of emo culture.

The pair went on to win an Academy Award for Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse and have originated feature franchises such as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and The LEGO Movie, all of which have grossed more than $3.3 billion at the global box office. On the television side, the pair were behind the comedy series The Last Man on Earth, which was written by and starred Will Forte. The series was nominated for five Primetime Emmy Awards, including a nomination for Lord and Miller for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. No slouch himself, Lawrence went on to create the Emmy-winning Scrubs and Cougar Town.

Velma, produced by Warner Bros. Animation, is a new comedic origin story starring the unsung and underappreciated brains of the Scooby-Doo Mystery Inc. gang, Velma Dinkley. Kaling will star, voicing Velma as well as executive producing. The show’s original and humorous spin unmasks the complex and colorful past of one of America’s most beloved mystery solvers. Charlie Grandy, Howard Klein, and Sam Register also serve as executive producers.

From creators Nate Sherman and Nick Vokey, Fired on Mars is set five minutes in the future on the Martian campus of a modern tech company. Davidson voices a character and executive produces with Carson Mell (Silicon Valley) and Dave Sirus.