Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd has stepped into a brand new avatar for his next role.
The Scottish actor, who rose to fame with the Netflix hit he created and starred in, is back with Half Man, an HBO Max and BBC co-production. Gadd, 36, wrote and created the show, which he stars in alongside BAFTA-winning actor, Jamie Bell, 40.
In the series, Gadd and Bell play brothers, Niall and Ruben, “not related in blood but the closest you can get,” according to the HBO synopsis. The show explores male rage, violence, and brotherhood, as reflected in an explosive trailer just released.
The series oscillates between the present and the past, with the teenage selves of the main characters played by Stuart Campbell and Mitchell Robertson. The six-episode limited series sees Gadd’s character, Ruben, as both a guiding light and an oppressive force to Niall.
The Glaswegian brothers reunite at Niall’s wedding, where Ruben makes a surprise appearance and punches Niall in the face. The gritty trailer is packed with charged outbursts and emotional soliloquies, but Gadd says the violence in his series serves a larger purpose.
“I wasn’t so much interested in just showing a violent man doing violent things all the time,” Gadd said in an interview with GQ. “I was interested in contextualizing that behavior, and digging into why men have that bond.”
“I felt it was interesting to explore dysfunctional manhood, where it comes from, and how it kind of evolves over time,” Gadd explained. “Why male camaraderie is so intoxicating for people, and why male bonds are so strong, but also why the repercussions of negative male behavior from that can be also extreme.”
Gadd’s Baby Reindeer, for which he bagged three Emmy awards and a Golden Globe, explored the human experience with an unflinching eye. The series is a fictionalized version of Gadd’s own experiences with a stalker—a tale that led to his real-life stalker suing Netflix over her depiction in the series. The case is ongoing.
The actor and comedian tells The Times that while the case is “quite tricky to speak to,” he remains proud of what it accomplished. “I’m very proud of Baby Reindeer, and in all of the noise and things that happened, it did a lot of good,” he said. “It had a phenomenal impact. Referrals to abuse charities went up 53 percent, 47 percent for stalking charities. I’m proud people saw it, related, and realized they need help. That led to positive change. So there’s a lot I’m super-proud of.”
Gadd’s show was widely acclaimed for the way it truthfully and unabashedly examined male trauma, shame, and fear.
With Half Man, Gadd appears to have similar ambitions.
“People will say, you know, the show is about masculinity,” he told GQ. “But I sometimes think it’s about two men who struggle to love each other, and don’t really know how to do that.”
