13 February 2025, 15:00 by Karzal

Ben Stiller will star in a drama about the music industry for HBO

HBO is developing The Band, a comedy-drama series starring Ben Stiller in a rare television role.

Created by Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers, co-creators of the critically acclaimed TBS/Max comedy series Search Party (2016), The Band offers a glimpse into the music industry surrounding Oscar (Stiller, pictured), a scandal-ridden impresario and talent mogul who must form a new act to save his career - and perhaps his soul.

The project comes from Media Res and Stiller's Red Hour Films, the companies behind two of Apple TV+'s biggest series, The Morning Show and Severance, respectively.

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Oscar, a Simon Cowell-like character played by Stiller (pictured), will put together a boy band, as the series title suggests. Cowell was one of the founders of one of the biggest boy bands of all time, One Direction.

This is a different look at the music industry than HBO did last year with the dark drama The Idol.

If The Band continues, it would be only Stiller's second starring role in a television series, following his 1990 sketch comedy The Ben Stiller Show. He has had a number of recurring roles, most notably on Fox's Arrested Development and HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Red Hour Films, along with Fifth Season, produces the Peabody and Emmy-winning Apple series Severance - now in its second season. In addition to being an executive producer, Stiller is also a director.

Media Res' current slate includes the Emmy and SAG Award-winning Apple drama The Morning Show, which is entering its fourth season, and the streamer's Pachinko. The Miniature Wife will soon be released by Peacock, starring Matthew Macfadyen; corporate thriller Thumblte on Netflix, starring Rosamund Pike; and several projects in late development, including bisexual romance drama Enigma Variations on Netflix starring Jeremy Allen White.

At HBO, where Media Res founder Ellenberg was once a top drama executive, the company previously produced Scenes From a Marriage (US), starring Jessica Chastain and Oscar Isaac.