Jude Law to play Liverpool legend Bill Shankly in A24 series, Deadline reports
Adolescence writer Jack Thorne is behind the drama about the Scottish manager who rebuilt the club in the 1960s. It doesn't have a network or streamer yet.
Jude Law is set to play Bill Shankly, the manager who turned Liverpool into a powerhouse of English football, in an A24 series, Deadline reported exclusively on Friday, October 16. The scripts come from Jack Thorne, co-creator of Netflix's Adolescence, who has already written the first two episodes. As Deadline notes, Law himself is a Tottenham Hotspur fan.
What we know about the series
- Liverpool FC first revealed the project in 2024, in partnership with A24 (Beef) and Box To Box Films (Drive to Survive).
- The story follows Shankly's rise: promotion from the old Second Division and the trophies that followed, including three First Division titles, two FA Cups and the UEFA Cup.
- It is set against the backdrop of 1960s Liverpool and the city's music boom.
- Filming is planned in Liverpool and at Anfield. Shankly's granddaughter Karen Gill, author of The Real Bill Shankly, is involved.
- There's no network or streamer attached yet; the producers have started talks.
Who was Bill Shankly
The Scot took over Liverpool in December 1959, with the club in the Second Division, and stepped down in 1974 right after winning the FA Cup. He died seven years later, aged 68. He is credited with making “You'll Never Walk Alone” the club's anthem and with the idea that the club is built on its bond with the people in the stands.
Speaking to Deadline, Tom Werner, Liverpool's chairman since 2010 and a veteran TV producer, compared the project's ambition to The Crown and said a possible second batch of episodes could reach the 1989 Hillsborough disaster, in which 97 fans died in Sheffield. With the Premier League's global audience, the series could find viewers well beyond Merseyside.
