FOX Entertainment has renewed the workplace comedy Animal Control, starring Emmy Award nominee Joel McHale, for a third season, it was announced today by Michael Thorn, President of Scripted Programming, FOX Entertainment. The single-camera show, FOX’s first wholly owned live-action comedy, launched last year as the network’s most-streamed debut ever, and will debut its second season on Wednesday, March 6 (9:00-9:30 ET/PT).

Created by Bob Fisher, Rob Greenberg and Dan Sterling, with Tad Quill serving as showrunner, Animal Control follows a group of local Animal Control workers whose lives are complicated by the fact that animals are simple, but humans are not. McHale stars as Frank, an opinionated, eccentric Animal Control officer who may not have gone to college but is still the most well-read person in the room. A former cop, Frank tried to expose corruption in his department, but his efforts got him fired, which may explain why he’s so cynical and curmudgeonly. He has an almost superhuman ability to understand animals. Humans…not so much.

“Animal Control is an incredibly irreverent series that expresses everything viewers expect from a FOX comedy,” said Thorn. “It has an amazing amount of momentum behind it, and we’ve been so impressed by the work Joel, Bob, Rob, Dan, Tad, Jake and the entire cast are delivering for Season Two we wanted to reward them with the opportunity to deliver even more of this special show to fans next season.”

In addition to McHale, Animal Control stars Michael Rowland as Fred “Shred” Taylor, Vella Lovell as Emily Price, Ravi Patel as Amit Patel, Grace Palmer as Victoria Sands and Gerry Dee recurs as Templeton Dudge. Season two ushers in mating season – for both the animals and the officers who protect them. Upcoming season two guest stars include Ken Jeong as expert (and unhinged) dog trainer Roman Park, Sarah Chalke as Yazmin, a love interest from Frank’s past, and Krystal Smith in the recurring role of Bettany, Emily’s tenacious, tough, sometimes frightening assistant.

The series premiere of Animal Control marked FOX’s most-streamed debut in network history, and most-streamed comedy episode ever in the network’s history. It averages 5.2 million multi-platform viewers, including 2.6 million on Hulu, a lift of +302% from Live + Same Day.

Animal Control is produced by FOX Entertainment Studios and executive-produced by Bob Fisher (Wedding Crashers, Sirens, The Moodys), Rob Greenberg (Frasier, How I Met Your Mother, The Moodys), Dan Sterling (Long Shot, The Interview, Girls, The Office, King of the Hill), Tad Quill (Scrubs, The Moodys), Jake Fuller (JAX Media) and Joel McHale. The series is distributed by FOX Entertainment Global. Animal Control has been sold in the U.K. to Channel 4, as well as Foxtel’s FOX8 in Australia, CBC and CBC Gem in Canada and TVNZ in New Zealand.

ABOUT FOX ENTERTAINMENT

With a legacy spanning nearly 40 years, FOX Entertainment is one of the world’s most recognizable media brands and a prolific content producer across its iconic broadcast network and both owned and third-party streaming platforms. Known for its independent, innovative spirit and provocative, groundbreaking storytelling, the company was reinvented in 2019 with the formation of FOX Entertainment. While maintaining its leadership in broadcast television (9-1-1: Lone Star, The Simpsons, The Floor, The Cleaning Lady, Hell’s Kitchen, LEGO Masters), the company is building a portfolio of businesses and library of owned original content. To date, FOX Entertainment’s long-term growth strategy has included the acquisitions of award-winning animation studio Bento Box Entertainment (Bob’s Burgers, The Great North, Krapopolis, Grimsburg), entertainment platform TMZ (TMZ Investigates), and global production studio MarVista Entertainment (The Way Home), as well as the formation of the culinary and lifestyle content venture Studio Ramsay Global (Next Level Chef, Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars, Idiot Sandwich) in partnership with Gordon Ramsay. The company also established its in-house unscripted studio FOX Alternative Entertainment (The Masked Singer, We Are Family, America’s Most Wanted, Snake Oil, I Can See Your Voice, Name That Tune), FOX Entertainment Studios (Animal Control) to develop scripted content, and worldwide content sales unit FOX Entertainment Global.