Hugh Bonneville to Join 'The Gentlemen' for Season 2

One of Netflix's big swings in 2024 was hiring uber-producer Guy Ritchie to create, write, and direct a TV series spinoff/sequel to his film The Gentlemen, which had been a hit in the U.K. when it premiered at the end of 2019, but was eclipsed by the pandemic before it arrived stateside. It was technically a win-win for both parties: Ritchie got a chance to give his film a second shot in the U.S. by backdoor promoting it via the new series, and Netflix got to say they had a series created and directed by Guy Ritchie. However, the series became a bigger win all around when it turned out to be the most-watched series on Netflix in the first half of 2024. A second season was greenlit almost immediately.

The original film was a British cast (Charlie Hunnam, Henry Golding, Michelle Dockery, Jeremy Strong, Eddie Marsan, Colin Farrell, Hugh Grant), save for American Matthew McConaughey, who played the lead role of Mickey, a Cannabis baron whose operation became the newest way the scions of landed gentry he met while attending Oxford managed to turn their estates into money-makers aimed at keeping up appearances. However, none returned for the series, which focused on a new generation, starring Theo James (Sanditon) as the eldest son, Eddie, who, upon becoming the 14th Duke of Halstead, discovers that his late father's business, which funds the family's lifestyle, is not precisely legal.

Season 1 set up Eddie versus Bobby Glass, played by the legendary Ray Winstone (the original Sexy Beast). Glass is supposedly one of Mickey's closest cohorts; however, Eddie's attempt to take over Glass' part of the empire didn't bring McConaughey around. Instead, with the help of Bobby's daughter Susie, played by Kaya Scodelario (The Pale Horse), and his brother Freddie, played by Daniel Ings (I Hate Suzie), Eddie manages to win the first battle in what will undoubtedly become a larger war.