The Tunt or Vandertunt Family is a wealthy East Coast family that rivals the IRL Vanderbilts. Of them, the most prominent in Archer is Cheryl Tunt, ISIS's inept secretary. One of her ancestors is Cornelius Tunt (modelled after Cornelius Vanderbilt) who also was a railroad tycoon mentioned in "The Limited".
Known members of the Tunt Family
- George Washington Tunt
- Cornelius Tunt
- Mr. Tunt & Mrs. Tunt
- Cecil Tunt
- Cheryl Tunt
Known holdings of the Tunt Family
- The Tuntmore Towers Hotel
- Tunt Manor
- The railroad featured in "The Limited"
- Sky Tunt, the airline featured in "Nellis"
- Tunt Mall (seen on magazine in Nellis)
Inspiration
- The Tunt Family appear to have been based on the Vanderbilt Family.
- Cheryl's home seems to resemble the Biltmore (the Tuntmore) with the pool being the most obvious.
- George Washington Tunt (Cheryl's father) seems to resemble George Washington Vanderbilt.
- Both the Tunts and Vanderbilts made their fortune in railroads.
- Cornelius Tunt resembles Cornelius Vanderbilt.
- Cheryl's name during the events of Season 8 is "Vandertunt."
Notes & Trivia
- Throughout Season 5, it is hinted that mental illness may run in the Tunt Family with Cheryl Tunt describing odd behavior of past relatives including the creation of secret tunnels to tap into the Underground Railroad (believing it to be a real railroad) to capture escaped slaves in 1890, as well as multiple instances of relatives dressing up as ghosts (which could be a KKK reference).
- Throughout the entire series, Cheryl is sporadically referred to as Carol (and a few other different titles in later seasons). This phenomenon is an example of a trope commonly used in both live-action and animated sitcoms. Said widely disdained character(s) at some point begin either regularly or semi-regularly being called by the wrong name by their peers, usually accidentally and occasionally on purpose; often these monikers are virtually identical in either spelling or sound to compound desired comedic effect. Another widely discussed theory suggests Cheryl's various misnomers allude to her mentally unstable, shallow, and changeable personality.
- It's explained by Cheryl herself in the second episode of Season 1 that she had her name legally changed to Carol because that's what Sterling Archer always called her when they were in a relationship.