It's been almost two years now since we learned that Liverpool FC and A24 would be teaming up on a new longform drama, set to chart the rise and reign of legendary club manager Bill Shankly as he turned the team from Second Division slouches to champions of England. But now, after 22 months of radio silence on the project, penned by Adolescence scribe and lifelong red Jack Thorne, Deadline has just dropped a major update on the series: British acting titan — and Spurs fan — Jude Law has just signed on to play Shankly in the show.
With aspirations to become an almost The Crown style series not only exploring the culture at the club that Shankly fostered on the pitch and in the boot room during his tenure, but also the culture of the city of Liverpool as it stood in the 1960s — a hub of music and art, the birthplace of The Beatles, Cilla Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and the Merseybeat — and beyond, it's not hard to see the appeal of a role and a project as meaty as this for Law. Given that Shanks took up post at Anfield in December 1959, stayed until 1974, and won no less than three league titles, two FA Cups, and a UEFA Cup in his time at Liverpool, there's certainly no shortage of scope for the show should it take a more generational approach to the story of England's most successful football club and its home.
“It’s a story about family and relationships through the lens of a football club,” said Liverpool FC Chairman — and experienced producer — Tom Werner of the as-yet-untitled project. "Bill Shankly understood that it wasn’t just about finding the best talent on the team. It was about forging a connection with a fan base, and the reason that Liverpool is so special to me, besides the fact that you could say it’s got a billion fans worldwide, is that the relationship between the club and its supporters is really unique. If we can articulate that in a mini-series that starts with Bill Shankly and continues through its journey, we can touch on things like the Beatles." Added scribe Thorne, who's already written the series' first two episodes, " “My feeling is, if you do nothing more in that first episode than show 50,000 people singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, I defy anyone who won’t be moved by that one scene."
Should A24 and Liverpool FC's collaboration prove successful, future seasons of the show could go on to handle some of the other epochal moments of the club's history over the decades, both triumphant and tragic, including the Hillsborough disaster of 1989 among other things. If handled right, which under Jack Thorne's supervision you'd imagine it will be, another landmark piece of television may well be on its way. Stay tuned for more updates on this one as development continues.