Peacock develops sci-fi satire Future Housewives starring Ariana Madix

Sci-fi satire in development at Peacock

Streaming platform Peacock has placed into development Future Housewives, an hour-long scripted sci-fi drama that satirizes reality television franchises. The project is created and written by veteran television producer Brannon Braga, who is developing the series alongside executive producer Seth MacFarlane. Set within the asteroid colony of New Beverly Hills, the narrative centers on an enclave of ultra-wealthy socialites living in futuristic pleasure domes. These figures spend their lives managing bioengineered beauty regimens, bitter personal rivalries, and interplanetary political scandals. Reality television personality and actor Ariana Madix will star as a starry-eyed outsider whose sudden arrival disrupts the community and exposes how far the colony's elite have drifted from a society moving past superficiality.

Production team and corporate partners

The series is produced by Universal Global Television in collaboration with MacFarlane's production banner, Fuzzy Door Productions, and Madix's newly founded company, Over Fences. Future Housewives represents the debut scripted television project in active development for Over Fences. Braga, Madix, MacFarlane, and Erica Huggins serve as executive producers on the project, with Fuzzy Door executives Rachel Hargreaves-Heald and Emily Kochman overseeing development. Author and virtual reality pioneer Jaron Lanier joins the production roster as a co-executive producer. Madix is represented in the deal by talent agency Gersh, management firm Venture Entertainment Partners, and law firm Hansen Jacobson Teller, while Braga is represented by WME.

Madix expands stage and screen portfolio

The starring role marks another step into scripted entertainment for Madix, who rose to prominence on unscripted cable television before branching into theater and acting. She first established a national audience on Bravo's reality series Vanderpump Rules before securing the role of host on Peacock's Emmy-nominated unscripted franchise Love Island USA. Her background in comedy includes performances in digital sketches for CollegeHumor and Dropout prior to and during her initial reality television tenure. On the stage, Madix made her Broadway debut in 2024 as Roxie Hart in the musical Chicago, and she currently performs on Broadway as Connie Francis in the stage production Just in Time. Her previous screen acting credits include guest appearances on the NBC comedy St. Denis Medical and the ABC drama Will Trent, in which she played herself, alongside roles in the Lifetime feature Buying Back My Daughter and the Roger Corman-produced film Attack of the 50 Foot Cheerleader.

Braga and MacFarlane build on sci-fi history

The series marks the latest creative partnership between Braga and MacFarlane, who previously collaborated on the science-fiction comedy-drama The Orville. That series concluded its third season, subtitled New Horizons, on Hulu in 2022. MacFarlane stated earlier in 2026 that scripts for a fourth season of The Orville are fully completed, though scheduling constraints have delayed production. The creative duo previously referenced the reality television genre in the season two Orville episode Command Performance, where characters portrayed by MacFarlane and Adrianne Palicki traded archives of 21st-century reality programming to escape captivity in an alien zoo. Outside of his work with MacFarlane, Braga built a long career in speculative television, writing and producing for Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise, co-writing the feature films Star Trek Generations and Star Trek: First Contact with Ronald D. Moore, and developing the ABC series Flashforward.