‘Obsession’ Trailer Teases Netflix’s Erotic Thriller Series Starring Richard Armitage, Charlie Murphy!! Check It Out!!

What do you get when you mix Thorin Oakenshield with 50 Shades of Grey and Fatal Attraction? While no one really asked, Netflix thankfully did and just like that, their upcoming erotic thriller, Obsession was born. Starring The Hobbit Trilogy and The Lodge actor Richard Armitage and Happy Valley and Peaky Blinders star Charlie Murphy, a trailer released today reveals the streamer’s series take on Josephine Hart’s steamy novel, Damage.

The opening moments of the trailer introduce audiences to Anna (Murphy) and William (Armitage), who are meeting for the first time as Anna is dating William’s son, Jay (Rish Shah, Ms. Marvel). Eyes linger longer than they should during the duo’s first meeting while after an introductory family dinner, William’s wife (Indira Varma, Game of Thrones) tells her husband that something about their son’s new romantic interest seems off. But, boy oh boy, she doesn’t know half of it as the sexual tension builds and builds between William and Anna until they can’t take the pressure anymore. Set to a breathy and sultry version of Kylie Minogue’s earworm song “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” (which will now be stuck in your head all day), the rest of the trailer sees William and Anna completely tied up in an affair, with both knowing that there’s no way for things to end well.

Also joining the cast of Obsession is Gangs of London actress Pippa Bennett-Warner, Celine Arden (Bridgerton), Isla Jackson-Ritchie (Bluebird), Francesca Knight (The Girl Before), Gregg Barnett (Fleabag), Victor Pontecorvo (Black Hearts), Letty Thomas (The Crown), Sonera Angel (Red Velvet Revolution), and Kerim Hassan (The Boy Who Stole God). Benji Walters (Noughts and Crosses) and Morgan Lloyd-Malcom (The Interrogation of Leo and Lisa) co-penned the limited series adaptation.

What is Obsession Based On?

A story first penned by Hart in her 1991 thriller, Damage, the original tale followed a high-ranking and revered British politician who engages in a scandalous affair that costs him everything. Spotting a winner, the story has already received an on-screen telling via Louis Malle’s 1992 psychological drama, Damage. While that film, which starred Jeremy Irons, Miranda Richardson, Juliette Binoche, and Rupert Graves, followed closely to the original material, the series will stray in several ways. Netflix is the latest streamer to revamp a classic tale of lies, seduction, and sex with Paramount+ preparing to release their adaptation of Fatal Attraction while Amazon‘s Prime Video is putting their own twist on the psychological thriller, Dead Ringers, which, ironically, is based on another Irons-led feature.