After his breakout success with the Netflix miniseries Baby Reindeer, Richard Gadd is set to star in an upcoming series he created, Half Man (previously titled Lions).
The HBO and BBC series is set to shoot in Scotland next year, consisting of six episodes.
Half Man follows estranged brothers Niall (Bell) and Ruben (Gadd). When Ruben shows up unexpectedly at Niall’s wedding, it leads to an explosion of violence that catapults us back through their lives. Spanning almost 40 years from the 1980s to the present day, this ambitious series will cover the highs and lows of the brothers’ relationship, from them meeting as teenagers to their falling out as adults — with all the good, bad, terrible, funny, angry, and challenging moments along the way. Half Man will capture the wild energy of a changing city — a changing world, even — and try to get to the bottom of the difficult question: what does it mean to be a man?
Referring to Bell as “one of the greatest actors of his generation,” Gadd had this to say about his co-star: “When I wrote the show, I did it with him in mind, never thinking for a second we would manage to land him.”
Gadd’s most recent TV outing, Baby Reindeer, which he created, wrote and starred in as the lead role, has been nominated for 11 Primetime Emmy Awards since its release on Netflix earlier this year, winning six.
Bell, who won the BAFTA for Best Actor in a Leading Role for his performance in Billy Elliot, recently starred in Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers and is set to appear in the upcoming film Rosebrush Pruning, directed by Karim Aïnouz.
Half Man is being made by Mam Tor Productions for the BBC, BBC Scotland and HBO, and will air in 2026 on BBC iPlayer, BBC One and BBC Scotland in the UK, and on HBO in the U.S. Filmmakers Alexandra Brodski and Eshref Reybrouck are attached to direct the series.
Words by Cian McGrath
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