Ben Stiller and Mike Judge Team Up for Apple Comedy

Ben Stiller is set to star in and executive produce Protective Custody, a new Apple comedy series from Mike Judge, Steve Hely and Dave King—following a disgraced financier sent into protective custody while facing massive fraud allegations and prison politics

Ben Stiller is stepping back into scripted comedy with a new Apple series built for the awkward, high-stakes kind of survival that happens behind bars.

Protective Custody, a comedy series from Mike Judge—Silicon Valley—Steve Hely and Dave King, is being developed by Apple with an eye toward ordering a series. Stiller will star and executive produce, marking his first lead role in a scripted, non-sketch comedy series.

The premise is simple and sharp: the show will follow a disgraced financier accused of massive fraud who is thrown into protective custody. From there, he has to navigate prison politics, try to salvage his reputation, and confront the consequences of his actions while he awaits trial.

Judge, Hely and King are building the series together as co-writers, co-showrunners and executive producers, with Judge attached to direct. Protective Custody is also set to be exec produced by Stiller and John Lesher for Red Hour; Ben Silverman and Howard Owens and Rodney Ferrell for Propagate Content; Michael Rotenberg and Oly Obst for 3 Arts Entertainment; and Academy Award nominee Nanette Burstein.

Stiller’s involvement is also rooted in what Apple has already done with him off-screen. After the Emmy-winning drama Severance. the excitement has been about finding a role that lets Stiller anchor an Apple series—especially a comedy—at a time when Apple has been expanding its ambitions in that genre.

For the creative team behind Protective Custody, the project has its own origin story. The series originated as a pitch to Apple from Ben Silverman and Propagate Content. They had built a valued collaboration with Apple on the Owen Wilson comedy series Stick. as well as the documentary The Last First: Winter K2. The pitch team conceived the show as Hogan’s Heroes meets The Office—an approach that also reflects Silverman’s earlier involvement with bringing The Office to the U.S. and helping exec produce it.

The idea quickly gained traction after it reached Judge’s orbit. Judge had already been circling the concept of a comedy in the jail space. and. as development moved forward. the project reportedly rose from a development title to a priority project for Apple—at a moment when the window for Stiller. Judge and their collaborators to work together lined up.

Protective Custody also reunites Judge with Hely and King following their collaboration on Common Side Effects, the Peabody Award-winning adult animated series from Adult Swim.

For Stiller, Protective Custody follows a run where Apple has been a consistent creative base. He directed on and executive produced two seasons of Severance and released his passion project documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost. about his parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. with Apple. He also produced and starred in The Dink. a pickleball comedy from director Josh Greenbaum. released by the studio on July 24. In addition. In The Off Weeks—which is currently in production—Stiller plays a divorced writing professor navigating a dangerous romance in his “off weeks” from parenting. amid split custody.

Later this year. he returns to the Focker-verse with Focker-in-Law. the latest film in his Meet the Parents comedy franchise. with Universal releasing on November 25. He also recently inked a deal to star opposite Nicholas Galitzine and Bella Maclean in a new Netflix film called A Matter of Time from Enola Holmes helmer Harry Bradbeer. He is repped by WME, VIE, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.

Judge, an Emmy and DGA Award winner, is best known for Silicon Valley, Beavis and Butt-Head, and King of the Hill, which is currently airing its 15th season via a Hulu revival. He is repped by WME, 3 Arts, and Yorn, Levine, Barnes.

Hely and King are both repped by 3 Arts and Ginsburg Daniels Kallis. Hely is also with WME.

With Protective Custody, Apple is betting on a pairing that already worked in different formats—comedy built around uncomfortable leadership and public collapse, headed by a creator known for turning sharp observation into mainstream hits.

Ben Stiller Mike Judge Protective Custody Apple Studios Severance Silicon Valley Steve Hely Dave King comedy series