Benedict Cumberbatch sees the strings in the first trailer for Netflix’s “Eric,” a new limited series that sees the British actor take on the role of a children’s television puppeteer that becomes wracked by guilt after his son disappears, as well as obsessed with the nine-year-old’s imaginary creation.
The first trailer for the streaming series reveals Cumberbatch walking around 1980’s New York City, as well as the blue creature that becomes the defeated patriarch’s fixation. The series logline from Netflix reads: “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 around 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 behaviour 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 to bring his son home.”
Alongside Cumberbatch, the series also stars Gaby Hoffmann, McKinley Belcher III, Dan Fogler and Clarke Peters. “Eric” is produced by Sister and was created and written by Abi Morgan, the Welsh playwright whose screen credits include the British television series “Sex Traffic” and “The Hour,” as well as films like “Suffragette,” “The Iron Lady” and “Shame.”
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“Eric” is executive produced by Morgan, Cumberbatch, Jane Featherstone, Lucy Dyke and Lucy Forbes. Forbes directed all six episodes of the limited series. Holly Pullinger produced.
“Eric” will debut on Netflix on May 30. Watch the trailer for the series below.
