‘Archer’ Season 12 Finale Pays Touching Tribute to Jessica Walter
Animated spy series Archer said goodbye to Jessica Walter—who voiced Malory Archer, the boozy matriarch of the series—during its season 12 finale. The 80-year-old, Emmy-winning actress died peacefully in her sleep at her home in New York City on March 24.
Before her death, Walter had completed much of the voice work for season 12 of Archer. (She was nominated for a posthumous Emmy for her role as well.) In the season finale, Malory makes her final appearance on the series, saving her son Sterling—voiced by H. Jon Benjamin—from kidnappers. As they celebrate, their spy agency is acquired by rival agency IAA, and Malory disappears. She leaves behind the following note for her son:
“I thought it was time to make my own exit,” she wrote. “I’ve decided it’s time to pass the torch. Try not to burn yourself with it. And I know my decision may seem abrupt, but we don’t always get to choose the perfect moment. From wherever I am, I will be watching over you.”
It turns out that Malory has fled to a remote, tropical destination. We see her on the beach in a sun hat, looking out on the sunset holding hands with her husband Ron Cadillac. “And how is my lady love?” he asks. “Infinitely better now,” Malory replies, before the screen fades to black and a title card that reads, “In Loving Memory of Jessica Walter.” The sweetest part? Cadillac was voiced by Walter’s late husband Ron Liebman—so the season 12 finale serves as a final, fitting reunion for the pair.
In an interview with TVLine, Archer executive producer Casey Willis said that the show was able to nail the final beach scene—where, in classic Malory fashion, the character also berates a waiter—by going through all of Walter and Leibman’s lines from Archer’s twelve seasons to find the ones that would provide the perfect send-off. It looks like the mission was accomplished.
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