Benedict Cumberbatch has a new mystery on his hands
The Oscar nominee is set to star in the upcoming six-episode limited series Eric, coming May 30, 2024. Created by BAFTA and Emmy Award-winner Abi Morgan (The Hour, The Iron Lady, The Split), the thriller follows a desperate father as he battles his demons on the vibrant, dangerous, and intoxicating streets of ’80s New York in a race to bring home his missing son.
Vincent (Cumberbatch) is one of New York’s leading puppeteers and creator of the hugely popular children’s television show Good Day Sunshine. But his life unravels when his nine-year-old son goes missing on the way to school.
Morgan told Netflix:
“Eric is a dark and crazy journey into the heart of 1980s New York — and the good, bad, and ugly world of Vincent.”
Struggling to cope with the loss of his son, Edgar, Vincent becomes increasingly distressed and volatile. Full of self-loathing and guilt over 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 behavior 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.
Alongside Cumberbatch, the series also stars Gaby Hoffmann as Cassie, McKinley Belcher III as lead detective Ledroit, and Ivan Howe as Edgar.
Lucy Forbes (This Is Going To Hurt, The End of the F***ing World) directs the series. Morgan, Cumberbatch, and Forbes executive produce alongside Jane Featherstone (Chernobyl, This Is Going to Hurt) and Lucy Dyke (The Split, Black Mirror), with Holly Pullinger (This Is Going to Hurt, Don’t Forget the Driver) producing. Eric is produced by Sister (Chernobyl, This Is Going to Hurt, Landscapers) and co-produced by Little Chick (The Split).
“When Abi first pitched Eric to us, it gave us goose bumps,” said Featherstone and Dyke. “It’s 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.”
Ready to see who’s really pulling the puppet strings? Eric premieres on May 30, 2024, only on Netflix.