The series follows Daniel, the first assistant director (1st AD), as he deals with the day to day problems working on Tecto: Eye of the Storm, which is a minor film in the franchise compared to the higher priority "team-up" film, Centurios 2.

It was announced in August 2022 that HBO had greenlit a pilot for the series from Armando Iannucci, who would write the pilot alongside Keith Akushie and Jon Brown, with Sam Mendes set to direct, who also conceived of the idea of the series.

[2] In December 2022, Billy Magnussen, Jessica Hynes, Darren Goldstein, Lolly Adefope and Isaac Cole Powell were cast in main roles, with Richard E. Grant and Daniel Brühl set to recur.

The website's critics consensus reads, "Teeming with superb actors having a ball playing hapless hacks, The Franchise pulls some of its punches against Hollywood malaise but overall makes for a tart treat.

"[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 67 out of 100 based on 29 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.