EXCLUSIVE: As his creation, the Emmy-winning HBO political comedy Veep, is heading to its final season, Armando Iannucci is making a return to the premium cable network while staying away from Washington (and mostly Earth altogether).

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HBO has greenlighted a pilot and picked up backup scripts for Avenue 5 (working title), a new comedy from Veep creator Iannucci. Created, written and executive produced by Iannucci, Avenue 5 is set in the future, mostly in space. (Word is that the comedy is set on a spaceship.)

The pilot is expected to film in London in 2018.

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Iannucci created HBO’s Veep starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and executive produced/ran the show for its first four seasons. He stepped down in 2015, citing the toll producing a series in the U.S. has taken on him and his London-based family, but he remained in business with HBO.

Veep has emerged as the most critically acclaimed comedy of the past few years, winning three consecutive best comedy series Emmys for Seasons 4, 5 and 6 and best actress in a comedy series Emmys for star Louis-Dreyfus for all six seasons to date — a record. HBO recently announced Veep‘s upcoming seventh season will be its last.

In addition to Veep, HBO’s comedy series portfolio includes the Emmy-nominated Silicon Valley; the Dwayne Johnson starrer Ballers; Issa Rae’s praised Insecure; Divorce, starring Sarah Jessica Parker; Pete Holmes-Judd Apatow’s Crashing; and Bill Hader’s upcoming Barry.

Iannucci probably is best known for his political satire brand which, along with Veep, includes the series The Thick of It; the movie In the Loop; and, most recently The Death of Stalin, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. But he started in non-political comedy, most notably with the Alan Partridge series starring Steve Coogan. In features, he also is taking a departure from current/historical events with an adaptation of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield.

Iannucci is repped by UTA for films. CAA repped the sale for TV.