EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Oscar nominee Tom Hardy and Atlanta Primetime Emmy nominee Zazie Beetz are set to star in the Apple TV+ drama series Lazarus, a project which is still nearing development and closing deals. The project is a co-production between A+E Studios and Range Studios and being sold to Apple.
Lazarus is based on the Joona Linna book series by Lars Kepler (pseudonym for Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril), which has been lauded by such outlets as The New York Times, Washington Post and EW, selling more than 17M copies worldwide.
In the series, an emaciated young man is found wandering along a train track. Thirteen years earlier, he and his sister went missing, presumed victims of the notorious serial killer Jurek Walter. To find the sister, police detective Saga Bauer must go undercover in the maximum-security psychiatric hospital where Jurek Walter has been kept since his arrest years ago. Hardy will play Jurek Walter and Beetz will portray Inspector Saga Bauer, in what I hear is akin to Hannibal Lector-Clarice Stalling type roles.
Øystein Karlsen is set to write, executive produce and direct the series.
Hardy Son & Baker comprised of Hardy and longtime producing partner Dean Baker will produce, their production company behind the FX series Taboo. Also EPs are Beetz & David Rysdahl, Kepler (Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril), Niclas Salomonsson, A+E Studios (Barry Jossen, Tana Jamieson) and Range Studios (Heather Kadin, Peter Micelli and Jack Whigham).
Hardy received a supporting actor Oscar nomination for The Revenant. His feature credits include Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Locke, Mad Max Fury Road, the near $1.4 billion grossing Venom franchise, Capone among many others. He also starred and executive produced the FX series Taboo. He also had a story by and producer credit on Venom: Let There Be Carnage.
Beetz received a Supporting Actress Comedy Series Emmy nom in 2018 for her turn in FX’s Atlanta as Donald Glover’s on-and-off again girlfriend. Her feature credits include Bullet Train, Joker, Nine Days, The Harder They Fall, Deadpool 2, Seberg, among several others.
She will appear in the upcoming crime drama mini-series “Full Circle.” The series will be available to stream on HBO Max this year. She is currently in production for the upcoming comedy series “History of the World: Part II,” produced by Mel Brooks and written by David Stassen. Beetz is also an EP on the series which is hitting Hulu on March 6.
Beetz is repped by WME, Entertainment 360 and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern. Hardy is repped by United Agents, Range Media Partners, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Apple didn’t return request for comment.
