Netflix orders Nick Stoller sitcom

US-based streaming service Netflix has ordered a comedy from husband and wife team Nick Stoller and Francesca Delbanco.

Friends from College will run to eight episodes, with production beginning in autumn in New York. Keegan-Michael Key (Key & Peele), Cobie Smulders (How I Met Your Mother), Annie Parisse (Vinyl) and Nat Faxon (Married) are among those starring.

The series will centre on a group of friends who met at Harvard who are now nearing their forties and experiencing differing ranges of success. Netflix bills it as “a comedic exploration of old friendships, former romantic entanglements and balancing adult life with nostalgia for the past”.

Stoller and Delbanco both attended Harvard before embarking on movie and television-making careers. Stoller directed comedy movie Neighbors, sequel Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall among others, and co-wrote NBC comedy The Carmichael Show.

“Nick is a comedic mastermind. With Friends from College, he and Francesca have created a world that is both moving and very, very funny,” said Cindy Holland, Netflix VP of original content.

This year, Netflix has greenlit Chuck Lorre marijuana-themed comedy Disjointed, Drew Barrymore-starrer Santa Clarita Diet and YouTube-sourced Miranda Sings.