Charlie Hunnam is back on the back of a motorcycle in a first look at his first TV show since Sons of Anarchy ended in 2014. Apple TV+ finally announced a premiere date for Shantaram, which has been in the works for years and faced multiple hurdles during production, from switching showrunners to COVID delays. Shantaram will debut on Friday, Oct. 14, with episodes debuting weekly through Dec. 16. Apple TV+ also shared the first photo of Hunnam in the series, showing a familiar sight: Hunnam on the back of a motorcycle.
Shantaram, based on the novel by Gregory David Roberts, stars Hunnam as Lin Ford. At the start of the series, he travels to 1980s Bombay, where he hopes to avoid the trouble he’s been running from. He meets a mysterious young woman named Karla, forcing him to choose between love and freedom. The rest of the main cast includes Shubham Saraf, Elektra Kilbey, Fayssal Bazzi, Luke Pasqualino, Antonia Desplat, Alyy Khan, Sujaya Dasgupta, Vincent Perez, David Field, Alexander Siddig, Gabrielle Scharnitzky, Elham Ehsas, Rachel Kamath, Matthew Joseph, and Shiv Palekar.
Videos by PopCulture.com
The series was created by Steve Lightfoot, who serves as showrunner, and Eric Warren Singer (Top Gun: Maverick). Justin Kruzel, who directed Hunnam in True History of the Kelly Gang (2019), directed the first two episodes and is an executive producer. Bharat Nalluri, who helmed the Charles Dickens biopic The Man Who Invented Christmas, also directed episodes. Shantaram was produced by Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content’s AC Studios.
Roberts’ novel was published in 2003 and immediately attracted attention from Hollywood. At one point, Warner Bros. had the screen rights, but the project turned into a television series when Paramount and Anonymous Content picked up the rights. Apple TV+ announced it was involved in June 2018 and it would be the streamer’s first international production. Singer was hired in 2018 and stepped down as showrunner in February 2020. Filming began in October 2019, but when production moved to India in February 2020, the monsoon season caused delays. The coronavirus pandemic led to even more delays, and the principal photographer wasn’t finished until December 2021.
During a stop on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in January 2020, Hunnam recalled the countless problems he ran into during the initial shoot in India. He said he had a “lung infection, which turned into a sinus infection,” then conjunctivitis in his eyes. The actor also got an ear infection, strep throat, and a “bacterial gut infection.” He also got “dengue fever” after a mosquito bit him. Hunnam credited his “impeccable personal hygiene” as the reason he had all these issues. “I think my immune system was too delicate because I’m too clean,” he joked.
Hunnam became a star as Jax Teller on FX’s Sons of Anarchy. Since the show ended in 2014, his career in films has taken several interesting turns, from attempts at leading a franchise with King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and Triple Frontier to making indie dramas like Jungleland and The Lost City of Z. He was last seen on the big screen in 2019’s The Gentlemen.
