Andy Samberg and Jean Smart are ex-lovers with a cryogenic twist in rom-com 42.6 Years

Andy Samberg produced and starred in one of the wittiest rom-coms in recent memory with 2020's Palm Springs, and now he's taking another sci-fi swipe at the genre with 42.6 Years.

He'll star alongside the venerable Jean Smart, fresh off a second consecutive Emmy win for Hacks and an appearance in Damien Chazelle's Babylon, as a young man who undergoes an experimental procedure and is cryogenically frozen. When he awakens 42.6 years later, the only person he has left to turn to is his now much older ex-girlfriend (Smart).

Jesse Grant/Getty; Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

Now that is a rom-com we can get behind. Two charismatic leads and a fun, fresh twist — what more could you ask for... besides a rich supporting cast of scene-stealing character actors and actresses? Some rom-com tropes are sacred.

Seth Reiss (Late Night with Seth Meyers), who recently earned a WGA nomination for co-writing The Menu, penned the script from a story he wrote with Samberg. The story is based on an original idea of Samberg's. Craig Gillespie (Pam & Tommy, I, Tonya) will direct and co-produce along with Samberg and Ali Bell of Party Over Here, Samberg's production company.

42.6 Years is currently in development at Amazon Studios, and hopefully, the wait to see it won't feel like a cryogenic freeze.

Related content:

• Jean Smart and Margot Robbie on the perils of deepfakes: 'I don't want to be in a year 3000 porn'

• Nominated for Nothing: Why Palm Springs, the peak 2020 movie, floated right by the Oscars

• The Menu review: A deliciously wicked food-world satire