Jason Bateman and Jude Law to Star in New Netflix Series

Jason Bateman and Jude Law have a new joint project coming to Netflix. The actors are set to co-star in the upcoming limited series Black Rabbit, according to TVLine. Bateman is slated to helm the first two episodes as director and will also take on the role of executive producer, alongside Law.

Initially conceived by Zach Baylin (King Richard) and Kate Susman (The Order), according to the official logline, the one-hour drama centers on “When the owner of a New York City hotspot (Law) allows his turbulent brother (Bateman) back in his life, he opens the door to escalating dangers that threaten to bring down everything he’s built.”

The ensemble includes Cleopatra Coleman (The Last Man on Earth), Amaka Okafor (Bodies), Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù (Gangs of London), and Dagmara Dominczyk (Succession). There has been no announcement regarding how many episodes the show will consist of or when it will be released.

Law has a wide variety of film credits, including Sherlock Holmes and The Holiday. He will also appear in the Disney+ series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, whose release date is to be determined.

Bateman is best known for his roles as Michael Bluth in the Fox television show Arrested Development, which became a Netflix series, and Marty Byrde in NBC’s Ozark, which aired on Netflix for four seasons until 2022. For the latter, in 2019, he won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series for his work on the show.

Bateman and Netflix currently have a creative partnership under his Aggregate Films banner. In addition to the streamer’s hit crime drama, he is also working on a number of other projects, including a TV series based on a 2021 Esquire article called “Daddy Ball,” as well as the features “Carry On” and “Dark Wire.”

Previously, Bateman has discussed the challenging transition from portraying deadpan humor to intense seriousness in his roles as an actor, noting that he had little difficulty.

“I mean, I’m plenty dark. It’s always been in there,” Bateman said in a podcast with NPR in 2020. “[In] the characters that I play, even in comedies, I’ll rarely be the wacky guy.” His ability to portray a regular guy was the key to the transition. “I’m the proxy,” Bateman explained. “Whether it’s an eccentric comedic character or a scary dramatic character, I’m the person that represents the audience.”