Jude Law Eyed for Shankly as A Different World Gets Second Term
Tom Werner has tapped Jude Law to play Bill Shankly in a new Liverpool drama, and locked a second season for his Netflix return to Hillman College.
Werner set out both projects in an interview published 16 October. He is television producer turned football chairman, and both jobs are in play at once, according to Deadline.
The Liverpool series is being developed with A24, Box to Box Films and writer Jack Thorne. It is initially centred around Shankly, the legendary manager who built the modern club. Werner said he had tapped Law for the role.
It is a second act for Werner in sport. He was part of the group that bought the Boston Red Sox in 2001, then part of the group that acquired Liverpool FC in 2010. He has been chairman of Liverpool since 2010.
Television came first. Werner worked on Mork & Mindy and Taxi while at ABC, then produced The Cosby Show, Roseanne, 3rd Rock From the Sun and That '70s Show at Carsey-Werner. He is in the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
His latest series is Netflix's A Different World. Werner originally produced the show for NBC starting in 1987. The new version follows Deborah, played by Maleah Joi Moon, during her freshman year at the fictional Hillman College. Deborah is the daughter of Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert, played in the original by Kadeem Hardison and Jasmine Guy.
The showrunner, meaning the writer in charge of the series day to day, is Felicia Pride. She previously wrote on Queen Sugar, Grey's Anatomy and Bel-Air, and is paired with Werner and Debbie Allen. Allen directed more than half of the original run's 144 episodes. Mandy Summers is also an executive producer, a senior credit covering creative and business oversight, alongside Werner, according to Deadline.
The reboot is a ten-part series. It takes on an ICE situation, sexual assault and college funding issues. It debuted at No. 4 on Netflix's Top 10 chart, the platform's weekly ranking of most-watched titles, with 4.2 million views in its opening few days and reached No. 1 in 12 countries. Netflix renewed it for a second season just over a week after its September premiere.
Werner told Deadline he is interested in impact rather than Emmys or economics with A Different World.
What makes this stand out is the range. One crew is recreating a 1960s boot room. Another is filling a freshman dorm. Werner is backing both.
