Toronto-based prodco marblemedia is moving full speed ahead on sci-fi-inspired family comedy Overlord and the Underwoods following a co-commission from broadcasters in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada.

CBC, Nickelodeon International, ITV and BYUtv have jointly ordered the 20 x 30-minute live-action series created by Anthony Q. Farrell (The Parker Andersons) and Ryan Wiesbrock of U.S. prodco Cloudco Entertainment.

Produced by marblemedia in association with Cloudco, the comedy follows the Underwoods, a good-natured North American family, who give refuge to their very distant cousin – Overlord, the second most-wanted person in the universe.

Pre-production is currently underway in Toronto, with Farrell serving as showrunner. Academy award winning set and production design expert Roger Christian has joined the series as a character designer, with character effects company MastersFX on board to bring his designs to life. Christian earned an Oscar for his work on the original Star Wars, designing props such as the iconic lightsaber, and was also nominated for his set design work on Ridley Scott’s Alien.

Joining Farrell in the writer’s room are Kate Hewlett (Malory Towers), Ryan Belleville (Almost Heroes), Jay Vaidya (The Hardy Boys), Amanda Joy (Second Jen), Angelica Mendizabal (The Tuesday Kids), Caleigh Bacchus (Murdoch Mysteries), Simon Owens (Maxxx), Sadiya Durrani (Little Mosque on the Prairie) and Richard Young (16 Hudson).

Executive producers on Overlord and the Underwoods include Wiesbrok, marblemedia’s Mark Bishop, Matt Hornburg and Carrie Paupst Shaughnessy, Cloudco’s Sean Gorman and Ian Lambur, and BYUtv’s Michael A. Dunn and Andra Johnson Duke. Donna Luke is supervising producer for marblemedia, Jim Bell is supervising producer for BYUtv and Jim Corston is series producer.  Executives at CBC are Sally Catto, GM, entertainment, factual and sports, and Trish Williams, executive director, scripted content. Cloudco Entertainment and marblemedia’s Distribution 360 own worldwide distribution rights.

The series is partially financed by the Shaw Rocket Fund. Development was funded through the Bell Fund Slate Development Program.

“We are thrilled to create this original, hilarious comedy series with such incredible talent both in-front and behind the camera, led by Anthony Q. Farrell and the Cloudco team along with all of our partners,” said Mark Bishop, executive producer and co-CEO of marblemedia, in a statement. “We can’t wait to share this series with audiences around the world later this year.”

This is marblemedia’s second collaboration with Farrell in the last year, with Farrell boarding the prodco’s interconnected sitcoms The Parker Andersons and Amelia Parker as showrunner in 2020. The series was commissioned by BYUtv and acquired by Super Channel in Canada, with the premiere scheduled for April 19.