Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd has a thing for intense relationship dramas.
Now that he’s turned Baby Reindeer into one of the biggest Netflix series of all time (it’s #10 on Netflix’s list of the streamer’s biggest shows ever), he’s moving to HBO for a project being co-produced with the BBC. Gadd is the creator and executive producer of the six-episode Lions, a project the BBC actually announced earlier this year before Gadd blew up into a major international star.
Lions — which HBO says will ask the difficult question of “What does it mean to be a man?” — also comes as Gadd’s Baby Reindeer remains the subject of controversy, with Netflix being sued by Fiona Harvey. She’s thought to have been the inspiration for Jessica Gunning, the character who stalks Gadd in the series that Netflix has labeled as a “true story.”
Lions, meanwhile, is about two estranged brothers. Ruben shows up one day to Niall’s wedding, leading to an “explosion of violence” that takes us through the backstory of the brothers’ lives. “Spanning almost forty years from the 1980s to the present day,” the logline explains, “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.”
Gadd, who’ll also be writing Lions, said in a news release that he’s wanted to work with HBO for years.
“Ordering a HBO boxset of The Sopranos, The Wire, or Oz and watching it from start to finish were some of the happiest moments of my childhood. Since then, it has always been a dream of mine to work with HBO and be part of their iconic roster of shows. I am so grateful to Francesca Orsi, Kara Buckley and Clint LaVigne for taking this chance on the show and on Ruben and Niall too who – despite growing up in a dead-end Scottish town — would be absolutely pinching themselves at this! I cannot wait to get started.”
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