Irish actor Jack Gleeson, who is best known for playing the nefarious King Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones, will star in the BBC’s upcoming TV adaptation of Enid Blyton’s The Famous Five novels.
Gleeson had previously quit acting in 2014, following the end of Joffrey’s character arc. The actor explained that he had started to find acting less enjoyable, and that he struggled with the notion of celebrity.
“The answer isn’t interesting or long-winded,” said Gleeson to Entertainment Weekly, explaining his decision. “I’ve been acting since age 8. I just stopped enjoying it as much as I used to.
“And now there’s the prospect of doing it for a living, whereas up until now it was always something I did for recreation with my friends, or in the summer for some fun. I enjoyed it. When you make a living from something, it changes your relationship with it. It’s not like I hate it, it’s just not what I want to do.”
In 2014 Gleeson also spoke about disliking celebrity culture in a speech to the Oxford Union. “[Celebrity] was an atmosphere from which I instantly wanted to retreat, I detested the superficial elevation and commodification of it all, juxtaposed with the grotesque self-involvement it would sometimes draw out of me.”
Gleeson now appears to have had a change of heart, and returns to star in his biggest on screen role in close to a decade. He will play a character named Wentworth in the highly-anticipated BBC adaptation. More details about the character of Wentworth, and his role in the upcoming plot, are yet to be revealed.
Over the last ten years Gleeson has reportedly been involved in several independent theatre productions. In 2020 he also had a role in the BBC Two sitcom Out of Her Mind, which starred Sara Pascoe, and had Nick Frost and Simon Pegg as executive producers – he played the ghost of an aborted baby, who visits Pascoe’s character years after the event.
This new TV drama has been created by Danish filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn, who made Drive, The Neon Demon and the Netflix series Copenhagen Cowboy. It will consist of three 90-minute episodes.
“All my life I’ve fought vigorously to remain a child with a lust for adventure,” said Refn. “By reimagining The Famous Five, I am preserving that notion by bringing these iconic stories to life for a progressive new audience, instilling the undefinable allure and enchantment of childhood for current and future generations to come.”
A relatively new cast of faces will make up the adventure series’ leading gang with Diaana Babnicova (The Sea Beast) playing George, Elliott Rose (The Northman) playing Julian, Kit Rakusen (Belfast) as Dick, and Flora Jacoby Richardson as Anne.
Other cast members include James Lance (Ted Lasso) as Quentin, Diana Quick (Brideshead Revisited) as Mrs Wentworth, and Ann Akinjirin (Moon Knight, I May Destroy You) as Fanny.
The Famous Five stories follow three siblings Julian, Dick and Anne, their cousin George and their dog Timmy who go on all sorts of thrilling adventures together. The first book in the series was published in 1942. Twenty more Famous Five books were published by Blyton over the following 21 years.
“Bringing these books to life with a new reimagining of The Famous Five is a real treat for BBC audiences and a celebration of British heritage,” said BBC Children’s and Education director Patricia Hidalgo.
“These stories are loved around the world and bringing families together is a key part of our strategy so we hope it introduces a new generation of viewers to these wonderful adventures.”
