Benedict has been officially announced as lead and executive producer in Netflix six-part thriller; cast has also been announced and filming is underway. More details below:
The Netflix limited series “Eric” starring Benedict Cumberbatch has filled out its main cast, Variety has learned.
Variety exclusively reported that Cumberbatch would star in the six-episode series in January. He will now be joined by: Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Belcher III, Dan Fogler, Clarke Peters, Ivan Morris Howe, Phoebe Nicholls, David Denman, Bamar Kane, Adepero Odyue, Alexis Molnar, and Roberta Colindrez.
Full character descriptions can be seen below.
Per the official logline, the series is set in 1980s New York. The show follows “the desperate search of a father when his nine year old son disappears one morning on the way to school. Vincent (Cumberbatch), one of New York’s leading puppeteers and creator of the hugely popular children’s television show, ‘Good Day Sunshine,’ struggles to cope with the loss of his son, Edgar (Howe), becoming increasingly distressed and volatile. Full of self-loathing and guilt around Edgar’s disappearance, he clings to his son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet, Eric, convinced that if he can get Eric on TV then Edgar will come home. As Vincent’s progressively destructive behaviour alienates his family, his work colleagues, and the detectives trying to help him, it’s Eric, a delusion of necessity, who becomes his only ally in the pursuit to bring his son home.”
Filming is now underway on the series, which will shoot in Hungary and New York. It was originally announced in November 2021 as part of Anne Mensah’s slate. Abi Morgan created the series and serves as executive producer. Cumberbatch will executive produce in addition to starring. Jane Featherstone and Lucy Dyke of Sister will also executive produce, with Lucy Forbes (“The End of the F***ing World,” “This Is Going to Hurt”) directing and executive producing. Morgan executive produces via Little Chick. Holly Pullinger will produce.
“’Eric’ is a dark and crazy journey into the heart of 1980’s New York, and the good bad and ugly world of Vincent, a genius puppeteer on one of America’s leading kids TV shows,” Morgan said. “The chance to work with Benedict and the creative team at Sister and Netflix, is irresistible. With Lucy Forbes at the directorial helm, I feel fortunate to be working at a time of such great creativity in our industry. Fingers crossed ‘Eric’ will be a welcome addition.”
“When Abi first pitched ‘Eric’ to us it gave us goosebumps,” Featherstone and Dyke said. “It is an extraordinary piece of writing, inspired by Abi’s experience of New York in the mid 1980s, a city rotten to its core but on the cusp of change. She writes both a tense thriller and an intimate portrait of a delusional father searching for his child, shadowed by a monster named Eric. We are thrilled that ‘Eric’ will be led by the multi-award-winning Benedict Cumberbatch and directed by the brilliant Lucy Forbes. ‘Eric’ is set to be an incredibly unique and special limited series and we are overjoyed to be collaborating once more with our long-time creative partner Abi on it.”
Benedict’s Vincent Anderson character description:
One of New York’s leading puppet makers and puppeteers, Vincent is the creator of wildly popular children’s television show, Good Day Sunshine. Highly intelligent, charismatic yet narcissistic, Vincent is professionally volatile and privately neglectful of his wife Cassie and young son, Edgar.
