Hugh Laurie to Lead Apple TV+ Thriller 'The Wanted Man'
Hugh Laurie in "Roadkill"
(Photo: Courtesy of (C) The Forge/Robert Viglasky)
Despite the presumably thousands of viewers who assume Hugh Laurie is from the U.S., thanks to his many years starring in the FOX medical drama House with an American accent, he's actually a very British actor, with the awards hardware to prove it. (He was given an OBE in 2007, and promoted to a CBE in 2018.)
Since House concluded in 2012, he's starred in a diverse array of projects, including the political thriller Roadkill, spy drama The Night Manager, the Agatha Christie mystery Why Didn't They Ask Evans?, and the World War II drama All the Light We Cannot See. His latest role was in the Apple TV+ spy drama Tehran, a fact that may help explain the origins of his latest project, in which he will play the lead in the streamer's forthcoming eight-episode thriller The Wanted Man.
Laurie will play Felix Carmichael, the head of a powerful London crime syndicate known as The Capital. When he is finally captured and imprisoned, he learns that his arrest was the result of a betrayal by someone close to him seeking to take over his empire. To save everything he has built (and exact revenge on the person who betrayed him), Felix must attempt a daring escape — and become a wanted man once again in the process. Playing an intelligent criminal anti-hero certainly seems right in Laurie's wheelhouse as an actor, and here's hoping his character's on-the-run status means that an array of disguises, cool outfits, and/or fake accents are in his future. And, of course, presumably this means he'll get to use his real accent.
Here's the series' synopsis.
The Wanted Man charts the rise and fall of Felix Carmichael, the elusive and powerful head of notorious British crime syndicate ‘The Capital.’ Untouchable for 20 years, Carmichael is finally apprehended, but while he’s held in the infamous Staplehurst prison, it becomes clear that he’s been betrayed by one of his own. As the traitor moves to dismantle the empire he has built, Carmichael must risk everything in a daring escape. Willing to stop at nothing to take his revenge, if he succeeds, he’ll be a wanted man once more.
Alongside Laurie, The Wanted Man will also star Thandiwe Newton (Westworld), Fionn Whitehead (Great Expectations), Gina McKee (Suspect), Hazel Doupe (Say Nothing), Elliot Effernan (Blitz), and Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones).
The series hails from Hijack creator George Kay and his Observatory Pictures, which is co-producing with All3Media’s New Pictures. Kay will serve as both writer and showrunner, with Jakob Verb (London Spy) directing all episodes. Executive producers include Kay, Willow Gryllis (Des), and Matt Sandford (The Long Shadow).
No production details or potential release date are known as yet, but for those who would like a hint of Kay's style, Hijack is currently streaming on Apple TV+.
