Paramount+ has been keeping Jez Butterworth busy of late. After co-creating the Michael Fassbender-led spy thriller series The Agency with his brother, John-Henry Butterworth, the Edge of Tomorrow writer landed one of the streamer’s biggest hits in recent memory in MobLand. Boasting a killer team with Ronan Bennett creating, Tom Hardy, Pierce Brosnan, and Helen Mirren as the main stars, and crime film maestro Guy Ritchie as one of the directors and executive producers, it immediately broke records and was swiftly snapped up for a second season, premiering on September 18, with a third likely on the way. Naturally, the platform is eager to stay in business with them, and they’ve just found the perfect project to do so.
The MobLand team is officially heading for the Scottish Highlands for their new series, and they’re bringing Hercule Poirot with them. Paramount+ has snagged the new drama series Laird from the hit Hardy-led crime drama’s showrunner, his brother, and Georgia Lee. They have yet another buzzy lead to work with in Kenneth Branagh, who will also join the Butterworths as an executive producer on the project. BAFTA-winning director Joe Wright, known for directing Gary Oldman‘s Oscar-winning performance in Darkest Hour, is also attached to helm the first episode and executive produce.
Laird is described in the official logline as “an epic family saga in which a proud Scot defies a shadowy American billionaire hellbent on buying up the glens.” Branagh plays the Laird of Castle Drummoch, who navigates bitter family feuds, dark secrets, star-crossed romances, and more while standing firm against the oligarchic land-grabbing forces that have come to strip him of his ancestral home. Its battle for family and legacy against the powers that be sounds right at home for the streaming service, something Jane Wiseman, head of Originals for Paramount+, emphasized in her own statement. She highlighted that theme of resistance in an official statement and pointed out the Oscar-winning Branagh as the perfect, towering figure to lead the charge.
Kenneth Branagh Makes a Welcome Return to Television With ‘Laird’
Branagh is undoubtedly best known for his big-screen appearances, for which he’s earned eight Oscar nominations alongside his lone win for Best Original Screenplay for Belfast. From his trio of Agatha Christie adaptations in which he plays her most legendary detective to his acclaimed turns in Hamlet and Henry V, and his many collaborations with Christopher Nolan, he’s assembled quite the resume, also including this year’s The Devil Wears Prada 2. However, on television, he has four Emmy nominations to his name, the most recent of which came for Wallander in 2009. His presence is still being felt on the small screen, too, as he most recently appeared in Netflix‘s violent animated hit Blue Eye Samurai and is likely to return as Abijah Fowler for Season 2 when it finally arrives.
via Collider