Jude Law to play Bill Shankly in A24 Liverpool series
Jude Law is set to play Bill Shankly, the manager who rebuilt Liverpool FC in the 1960s, in a drama series from writer Jack Thorne and studio A24.
The casting was reported by Deadline on 16 October 2026. No broadcaster or release date has been announced. The show is still in development.
Shankly became Liverpool manager in December 1959. He stepped down in 1974 after leading the club to victory in that year's FA Cup. He died seven years later at the age of 68. The series will follow the club's dramatic rise to prominence in the 1960s under his leadership, according to early details reported by Variety.
That is almost 15 years in charge condensed for television. It is the period in which Liverpool moved from the second tier of English football to the top of the domestic game. The production will need to cover league titles, cup runs and the building of a new culture at the club.
Liverpool first confirmed the Shankly project in December 2024. The club said it was working with A24 and Box To Box Films on a drama inspired by Shankly's time in charge. The announcement was published on 17 December 2024.
Thorne has written the first two episodes. His previous credits include the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the Enola Holmes films and the television drama Help, according to Liverpool FC. Those scripts will set the tone for how the story is told.
Filming is planned in Liverpool and at Anfield, the club's home stadium. Shankly's granddaughter Karen Gill, author of The Real Bill Shankly, is involved in the project. Her participation gives the production a direct link to the family story.
Tom Werner, who has been chairman of Liverpool since 2010, is backing the series. He told Deadline he believes it could become like The Crown, the long-running television drama about the British monarchy. No episode count or season plan has been confirmed.
What makes this stand out is access. A club-backed story shot inside its own stadium is rare. It means the production can film where the history happened.
Separately, BBC Scotland has commissioned production company Riverhorse to make a feature documentary about Shankly. That project is distinct from the A24 drama. For fans, this means two different tellings of the Shankly years are now in the works.
