Will Forte & D’Arcy Carden To Lead Stan’s Dark Comedy-Drama ‘Sunny Nights’ From Trent O’Donnell, Jungle Entertainment, Echo Lake Entertainment & Cineflix Rights

By Jesse Whittock, Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth, Bodkin) and D’Arcy Carden (The Good Place, Barry) have been cast as leads in darkly comic drama series Sunny Nights for Australian streamer Stan. As we revealed in March, Trent O’Donnell is directing and exec producing and U.S. management agency Echo Lake Entertainment is among the producers.

Sunny Nights will follow siblings Martin (Forte) and Vicki (Carden) Marvin who venture to Sydney determined to start their spray tan business. When they get caught up in the city’s criminal underworld, they must figure out how to stay alive, out of prison and in the black. It’s billed as “a story of how a little bit of sun, a change of scenery, and a touch of violent crime can help a person find their true self.”

The series continues a recent trend for Nine Entertainment-owned streamer Stan to order plot-driven comedy-dramas with a mix of Australian and American acting and producing talent — think the Ben Feldman-starring series Population 11 and satirical war comedy series C*A*U*G*H*T, which starred Sean Penn and Michael Fox. News of Sunny Nights first came a few months back as part of Stan’s latest slate, and it now has its leads, both of whom hail from the States.

Carden is known for NBC comedy The Good Place, Prime Video series A League of Their Own and HBO’s Barry. We recently revealed she is fronting WikiHole, a comedy podcast from SmartLess Media. Forte, meanwhile, is an SNL alum known for playing the title role in comedy franchise McGruber and for his Fox series The Last Man on Earth. He most recently appeared in Netflix’s TV series Bodkin and has been cast in The Four Seasons, a comedy for the same streamer.

Filming for Sunny Nights is underway in New South Wales, with an ensemble cast also including Rachel House (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Heartbreak High), Jessica De Gouw (C*A*U*G*H*T, The Drover’s Wife), Megan Wilding (Gold Diggers, Mystery Road: Origin), Ra Chapman (White Fever, Wentworth), Miritana Hughes (Wakefield, Preacher), George Mason (Exposure, Black Snow), Matuse (Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, The Fall Guy) and former professional rugby league player Willie Mason in his debut role.

Jungle Entertainment, which made Stan and O’Donnell’s recent comedy-drama series Population 11, is producing alongside Echo Lake Entertainment in association with Cineflix Rights, which will have international distribution rights.

Writing duo Nick Keetch and Ty Freer (High Fire, Almost Paradise) created the series, with episodes written by the pair, Marieke Hardy (Heartbreak High), Lally Katz (Wentworth), Clare Sladden (Eden) and Niki Aken (The Newsreader). Bridget Callow-Wright, is producing.

Exec producers are O’Donnell, who is known for shows such as No Activity and Hacks; stars Forte and Carden; Shay Spencer (Wakefield), Jason Burrows (No Activity) and Chloe Rickard (Wakefield) for Jungle Entertainment; Doug Mankoff, Andrew Spaulding, Chris Davis and Amotz Zakai for Echo Lake Entertainment (The Great); and Myra Model of Myra Model Management.

“We’re incredibly proud to once again be working with Trent O’Donnell and Jungle Entertainment on another fantastic Stan original series, this time with the added creative force of Echo Lake Entertainment and global content leader Cineflix Rights,” said Stan Chief Content Officer Cailah Scobie. “Sunny Nights has been superbly cast with Will Forte and D’Arcy Carden in the lead, and their comedic expertise alongside a cast of Aussie talent promises to deliver a dangerously hilarious series that will resonate both locally and abroad.”

Jungle’s Burrows said the “brilliant scripts, coupled with the incredible talent we have working on this series, both behind and in front of the camera — led by Trent O’Donnell— is going to make this very special, while Echo Lake’s Mankoff said: “Collaborating with Jungle to bring Sunny Nights to fruition has been incredibly rewarding. Sometimes you have to believe a project into existence, but having great partners is crucial. Stan and Cineflix Rights also have been amazing, and we are grateful for their extraordinary commitment to this gem of a show.”

Carden is represented by Rise Management, UTA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein. Forte is repped by UTA, Rise and Ken Richman and Robby Koch from Hansen, Jacobson, Teller, Hoberman, Newman, Warren, Richman, Rush, Kaller, Gellman, Meigs & Fox.