Netflix announced a series order for “Grendel,” based on Matt Wagner’s Dark Horse Entertainment comic book series of the same name. Abubakr Ali will star, among others.
“Grendel” follows Hunter Rose (Ali), a fencer, writer and assassin who fights organized crime in New York to avenge the death of a lost love, until he ends up taking over the crime scene himself.
Ali is known for playing Sebastian ‘Bash’ Kamal-Stern in “Power Book II: Ghost.” His other credits include playing Raj Patel in “Katy Keene” and a leading role in “What If?,” the upcoming feature from Orion Pictures and Killer Films directed by Billy Porter.
The cast will also include Jaime Ray Newman (“Dopesick,” “The Time Traveler’s Wife”) as Jocasta Rose, Julian Black Antelope (“The Flash,” “Debris”) as Argent, Madeline Zima (“Californication,” “Hacks”) as Liz Sparks, Kevin Corrigan (“Scenes from an Empty Church,” “The Get Down”) as Barry Palumbo, Emma Ho (“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds,” “The Expanse”) as Stacy Palumbo, Erik Palladino (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Watchmen”) as Teddy Ciccone, Brittany Allen (“What Keeps You Alive”) as Annabelle Wright and Andy Mientus (“The Flash,” “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings”) as Larry Stohler.
Andrew Dabb (“Resident Evil,” “Supernatural”) serves as writer, showrunner and executive producer on “Grendel,” which has been ordered for eight episodes. Other executive producers include Wagner and Dark Horse’s Mike Richardson (“The Umbrella Academy,” “Hellboy”), Keith Goldberg (“The Umbrella Academy,” “Resident Alien”) and Chris Tongue (“Polar,” “Splinter”).
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Netflix and Dark Horse have previously collaborated on the comic book adaptation “The Umbrella Academy,” Jonas Åkerlund’s feature film “Polar,” and animated series “Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles,” which is currently in production.
“I couldn’t be more thrilled about the ‘Grendel’ saga, one of the longest-running independent comics series, finally being translated into live-action for the screen,” Wagner said. “Under the sharp guidance of showrunner Andrew Dabb, our incredible creative team, sure-to-be stellar cast and Dark Horse Entertainment have teamed with Netflix to produce this provocative adaptation that will bring my characters and concepts to an all new audience and yet still provide excitement and surprises for die-hard fans. I’m especially excited to see Abubakr Ali bring the character of Grendel/Hunter Rose to life — he has the charisma, style and vital edginess that I’ve been envisioning in the role for years.”
