Warner Bros. Discovery has announced the release of the upcoming HBO Original Limited Series Half Man with its official trailer and a premiere date of Thursday, April 23, 9:00-10:00 p.m. ET/PT on HBO and HBO Max for streaming. The six-episode limited series will have new episodes debut weekly through Thursday, May 28.
Watch the trailer below, via HBO and HBO Max on YouTube.
mxdwn previously reported on the series in 2024, when it was first announced to be in development and was slated to begin shooting in Scotland in the next year. The series is Bell’s first BBC TV series.
Half Man, per the series logline, will tell the story of brothers Niall (Richard Gadd; Baby Reindeer, Code 404) and Ruben (Jamie Bell; Snowpiercer, Rocketman) through 30 years of their lives. While not related by blood, the two are the closest you can get;
“One, fierce and loyal. The other, meek and mild-mannered. Inseparable youth. Brought into each other’s lives through death and circumstance, all they have is each other – But when Ruben (Bell) turns up at Niall’s (Gadd) wedding three decades later, everything seems different. He is on edge, Shifty. Not acting like himself. And soon, an explosion of violence takes place which catapults us back through their lives, from the eighties to the present day.
Half Man is a six-part limited series exploring brotherhood, violence, and the intense fragility of male relationships. After all, when things fall apart… it is sometimes the closest relationships which break the hardest.”
In addition to premiere in the United States, via Warner Bros. Discovery, the series will be released internationally in Latin America, Europe, and the UK and Ireland. Half Man will be available to stream on HBO Max in Latin America and Europe on April 24 and 25 respectively. In Ireland and the UK, you can find the series on April 24 on BBC iPlayer, and BBC One and BBC Scotland will follow in transmission within the week.
Ensemble cast stated in the release, alongside Emmy-winner Gadd and BAFTA-winner Bell, includes; Tom Andrews (Feel Good, This England), Sandy Batchelor (28 Years Later, The Capture), Stuart Campbell (Rogue Heroes, The Winter King), Julie Cullen (Traces, The Princess Switch 3), Tim Downie (Outlander, Toast of London), Piers Ewart (The Primrose Railway Children), Scot Greenan (Robin Hood, Macbeth), Bilal Hasna (Extraordinary, Black Mirror), Amy Manson (THe Nevers, Spencer), Marianne McIvor (The Bombing of Pan Am 103, Screw), Neve McIntosh (The Paternoster Gang, Gormenghast), Stuart McQuarrie (28 Days Later, Trainspotting), Charlie De Melo (The Interceptor, Project Bläckfist), Anjli Mohindra (Bodyguard, Vigil), Mitchell Robertson (Curfew, Mayflies), Philippine Velge (Jurassic World: Rebirth, Station Eleven), and newcomers Calum Manchip, Charlotte Blackwood, and Kate Robson-Stuart.
Gadd acts as the series creator, writer, and executive producer. Also credited as EPs are Gaynor Holmes (Monarch of the Glen, Shetland) for the BBC and Gavin Smith (The Scotts, Guilt) for BBC Scotland, Sophie Gardiner (The Red Violin, Howards End), Anna O’Malley (Slow Horses, Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story), and Morven Reid (The Eagle, Perfect Sense) and Tally Garner (Boy A, Broken) EP-ing for Mam Tor Productions. Eshref Reybrouck (Cheyenne & Lola, Ferry: The Series) and Alexandra Brodski (Rivals, Somewhere Boy) direct the series.
Half Man, per Warner Bros. Discovery, is produced by Mam Tor Productions (a Banijay UK company) in association with Thistledown Pictures for BBC iPlayer, BBC One, BBC Scotland, and HBO. Handling international distribution rights outside of HBO and BBC is Banijay Rights, and Half Man is supported by Screen Scotland.
As announced prior, HBO and BBC co-production Half Man will premiere April 23 on HBO and available to stream in the U.S. on HBO Max.