'Archer' Stars H. Jon Benjamin and Aisha Tyler Tease 'Mayhem' in Season 13

Archer Season 13 will be full of "murder, mayhem, and body jokes" according to actor H. Jon Benjamin, who spoke to Newsweek alongside co-star Aisha Tyler about the animated show's next chapter.

Things have changed for Archer and his fellow spies because Benjamin's suave secret agent is without his mother, Malory (the late Jessica Walter), and the team are without their leader.

Season 12 ended with Malory retiring with husband Ron (voiced by Walter's late husband Ron Leibman), leaving The Agency in the semi-capable hands of the team, resulting in them all vying for the top spot in Season 13.

'Archer' Stars H. Jon Benjamin and Aisha Tyler Tease 'Mayhem' in Season 13

Reflecting on how this will go, Benjamin teased to Newsweek: "[Fans] can expect a lot of murder, mayhem and body jokes."

Tyler, who voices top spy Lana Kane, added: "At its heart, it's not just a spy show, it's a workplace comedy, right?

"So, you know, no matter where we are, if we are engaged in spycraft, or if we're in space, or we're at the bottom of the sea, or if we've turned into an international cartel of cocaine dealers, it's these little office politics and office combat that they're engaged in.

"That's when we're at our best, when we're all fighting over stupid stuff, like who ate someone's breakfast burrito. This season, though, you know, the office politics is really elevated, because we're all battling with who's going to be on top, and so I think you're going to see more intense sibling rivalries, bigger combat, bigger fights, a lot of subterfuge.

"But, in the end, I think we collaborate more than we undermine each other, and it's really fun to see the ways in which we all come together and kind of surprise ourselves by how much we care about the other people.

"There's some saying, I'll get wrong about like 'I can say those things about my brother and sister but you can't', like the minute somebody else does, we turn on you because we fight, squabble, but God forbid anybody tries to like criticize or come between us because we will destroy you, eat your liver with fava beans and a nice Chianti."

Race to Become the New Leader

The Agency now work for the IIA, an international spy agency run by Fabian Kingsworth (Kayvan Novak) who is giving them the chance to decide amongst themselves who will take over.

Archer, for his part, is happy to take a step back because now his mother is in retirement he feels he can finally do whatever he wants, when he wants. Not that that's any different to how he normally is.

"It is true that there's not much distinct difference between Archer season to season, except from when he was in a coma and even then his coma dream was squarely Archer-esque," Benjamin said of his character in Season 13.

"But yeah, I think obviously the biggest change to this season is the loss of Malory, and obviously in real life the loss of Jessica Walter. So having to pivot I do think Archer now lives in a world without his mom so he's a bit rudderless there, as are the rest of the characters all living with this loss of the matriarch of the show,

"And then having to deal with this sort of new scenario, working for an espionage conglomerate, corporatized espionage. That's a long way to say Archer pretty much stays the same every season, as far as where he's at emotionally."

Lana, meanwhile, is also more focused on getting a good work-life balance so that she can be there for her daughter Abbiejean (AJ), who she shares with Archer, rather than leading the team.

Reflecting on her character's arc this season, Tyler shared: "She's just been super ambitious this whole time, her goal was always to run The Agency from the very beginning.

"And I think what's been really nice about her journey is that it's still pretty human and pretty authentic, I think she still remains driven, she may change her mind about whether she wants to run The Agency or not, but I think she also feels like trying to corral this herd of wet cats is probably a losing battle.

"It's not going to be as satisfying as she actually anticipated it would be when she first thought about doing it, so for her I think she's also in this predicament where she's got a kid and she wonders if she's giving her kid and her relationship with her as much time and energy as it deserves, which I think is not just every working woman's concern but every working parent's concern.

"So it feels very human for a show that's about drunk cartoons shooting at each other. It's a rare moment of humanity. [It] is always really nice when the show does lean into these really human things, they land a little bit more intensely because the show is so ridiculous."

Archer and Lana's Bond Will Strengthen in a New Way

One thing that will evolve this season is Archer and Lana's relationship, with the characters taking new steps together and the world-famous spy even helping co-parent his daughter.

"It's always really startling when you get anything kind of meaningful or valuable from Archer," Tyler said of the spy's support of Lana with AJ.

"He did have a particularly stilted childhood and one where his mom was really remote, right, he was going to boarding school, and they didn't really have a healthy emotional relationship.

"He hasn't really been a very present parent for Abbiejean either, so I think they're both learning from each other."

Tyler also spoke of Lana and Archer's on-and-off relationship, saying of their bond in Season 13: "They definitely love each other, I mean there's no doubt about it. I think Lana, for Archer, is probably the only person that really knows and accepts him for who he is.

"I mean she doesn't think he's perfect, but she really understands him and looks past his foibles and has cared for him despite the fact that he's been such a terrible partner, and it's very clear that Archer loves Lana. Many, many times [he's] literally let himself [almost] die to save Lana's life, like jumped off cliffs and drowned under the sea, thrown himself into burning buildings and out of helicopters to save Lana's life.

"So they definitely love each other, and maybe the only way that they can love each other freely is not to be in a relationship."

The Whose Line is it Anyway? host added: "They're teammates, and as much as they bicker they also cooperate and the combative nature of that relationship is probably the thing that feels best to them, that they can actually say how they feel about each other, beat each other up and criticize each other in a way that would feel really damaging if they were like in a relationship.

"Who knows what will happen in the future, maybe Season 22 they pull a Ross and Rachel, who knows."

Benjamin concurred with his co-star, saying of the pair: "For Archer, I feel like he'll never be able to get back together with Lana. I feel like he's too stunted and there's too much baggage probably, even though they have a child the resentment runs deep. Even though I think they love each other, I just think they're star-crossed."

Honoring Jessica Walter's Legacy

Season 13 is the first without Jessica Walter in it, since the actor voiced most of her lines for Season 12 prior to her passing in March 2021.

The Season 12 finale saw Archer read a letter from Malory in which she said goodbye to the team, which Benjamin said made him "tear up the first time [he] read it" and he had to do "many takes" of the scene to get it right.

"I remember being very upset when I read it the first few times," Benjamin said. "And then I think we got to where I was more in control, so it was a little bit of a process [and] it was sad to read but I also thought that they did such a good job in the end, just the shot on the beach seemed to be a nice way to say goodbye."

Benjamin added: "It's a sad thing, I think in the end the show still has to be a comedy show about a bunch of lunatic spies, there's tinges of that loss in this season in weird ways. I don't think there'll ever be closure for Archer, losing his mom, and I'm not sure there'll be closure for the show, losing Jessica."

For Tyler it was emotional for Walter not to be with them and, reflecting on what it was like to continue without her, she said: "She was just incomparable, [an] extraordinary singular and irreplaceable person for all of us.

"As extraordinary as she was on the show, as talented as she was, she was just the most lovely, kind, generous, delightful person, and really affected us all in irrevocable, lifelong ways. She was a really lovely, lovely person, a really good friend and an extraordinary role model."

Reflecting on the Season 12 finale and looking beyond, Tyler added: "I think we want to continue to honor her, I also don't think we want to dine out on her loss. We really wanted to give her a beautiful send-off that felt celebratory and uplifting, and worthy of her.

"She'll always have left a mark on us as artists and also on the show, but we want to make sure we build that because we just want to honour her, she was just one of a kind."

Archer Season 13 premieres on August 24 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FXX, streaming the next day on Hulu.