Netflix has shared the official trailer and key art for the limited series Eric, which stars Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffmann, and McKinley Belcher III.
Abi Morgan wrote and directed the six-episode series, which will be available on the streaming service on May 30, 2024.
Set in 1980s New York, Eric is a new emotional thriller following the desperate search of a father when his nine-year-old son disappears one morning on the way to school.
Vincent, one of New York’s leading puppeteers and creator of the hugely popular children’s television show “Good Day Sunshine,” struggles to cope with the loss of his son, Edgar, becoming increasingly distressed and volatile.
Full of self-loathing and guilt about Edgar’s disappearance, he clings to his son’s drawings of a blue monster puppet, ERIC, convinced that if he can get ERIC on TV, then Edgar will come home.
As Vincent’s progressively destructive behavior alienates his family, his work colleagues, and the detectives trying to help him, it’s Eric, a delusion of necessity, who becomes his only ally in the pursuit of bringing his son home.
Writer and creator Abi Morgan said, “When I pitched the idea of a New York puppeteer on a quest to find his missing son, with a 7ft blue monster in tow, it’s to Netflix’s eternal credit that they jumped on board.
“Eric is a deep dive into the 1980s Big Apple, grappling with rising crime rates, internal corruption, endemic racism, a forgotten underclass, and the AIDS epidemic, exposing the divisions rife between parents searching for their child, a detective battling with a system that is broken, and a lost boy who may never come home, and asks where the real monsters lie. With puppets…lots of puppets.”
Benedict Cumberbatch, Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Belcher III, Dan Fogler, and Clarke Peters star in the series, which was filmed in Budapest and New York.
The show was produced by Holly Pullinger, and the executive producers include Abi Morgan, Jane Featherstone, Lucy Dyke, Lucy Forbes, and Benedict Cumberbatch. Lucy Forbes also directs.
Mirko Parlevliet has been reporting on the entertainment industry since 1998 and founded Vital Thrills to provide the latest news on streaming, movies, and TV shows. He previously created the websites ComingSoon, SuperHeroHype, and ShockTillYouDrop.