Paramount+ has set a January 25, 2024 premiere date for the drama Sexy Beast, a prequel to the 2000 feature film starring Sir Ben Kingsley and directed by Jonathan Glazer. The prequel series focuses on the backstories of Gal and Don, played by Ray Winstone and Kingsley in the Oscar-nominated feature film.
James McArdle (Mare of Easttown) stars as Gal Dove and Emun Elliott (The Rig) plays Don Logan. The eight-episode season also features Tamsin Greig (Episodes) as Cecilia, Stephen Moyer (who played an actual sexy beast in True Blood) as Teddy Bass, and Sarah Greene (Bad Sisters) as Deedee Harrison. Additional cast of season one includes Eliza Bennett (Dynasty), Clea Martin (Hanna), Nicholas Nunn (The Victim), Peter Ferdinando (The Letter for the King), John Dagleish (The Third Day), Robbie Gee (Motherland), and Paul Kaye (The Stranger).
Lex Shrapnel (Infiniti), Cally Lawrence (Who Is Alice), David Kennedy (Hollyoaks), Julian Rhind-Tutt (Greenwing), Ralph Brown (Godfather of Harlem), Nitin Ganatra (EastEnders) and Alice Bailey Johnson (This Is Going to Hurt) also star.
“I feel very fortunate to be a part of this world,” said McArdle. “The original story leaves so much space for us all to wonder what happened within Gal and Don’s friendship in the years prior. I’m looking forward to everyone being able to rediscover these characters and find out.”
“The prequel series explores the origins of Gal (McArdle) and Don’s (Elliott) complicated relationship as they find themselves descending into the seductive madness of the London criminal world during the vibrant and volatile 1990s, while Gal’s budding relationship with Deedee (Greene) threatens everything in their world,” reads Paramount+’s synopsis.
Sexy Beast was originally ordered to series in July 2019, and filming finished up this year in Liverpool. Michael Caleo, Nicole Clemens, Antony Smith, Michael Scheel, JC Acosta, Alastair Galbraith, and David Caffrey are executive producers. The film’s writers, David Scinto and Louis Mellis, also executive produce. The prequel is produced by AC Chapter One and Anonymous Content, in association with Paramount Television International Studios.
