Grendel Explores the Line Between Hero and Villain in All-New Netflix Series

By Staff Reports

Netflix has greenlit Grendel, an all-new, eight-episode series based on the masked vigilante from the popular, award-winning Matt Wagner/Dark Horse comic books.

Based on Matt Wagner’s groundbreaking comic book series, Grendel follows Hunter Rose, a gifted fencer, writer and assassin as, seeking to avenge the death of a lost love, he goes to war with New York’s criminal underworld, only to realize…why beat them, when you can join them?

Grendel comes to life from Writer/Showrunner/Executive Producer: Andrew Dabb (Resident Evil, Supernatural), Executive Producers: Dark Horse Entertainment’s Mike Richardson (The Umbrella Academy, Hellboy), Keith Goldberg (The Umbrella Academy, Resident Alien), Chris Tongue (Polar, Splinter), and comic creator Matt Wagner.

The series is a Netflix production and comes out of Netflix’s first-look deal with Dark Horse Entertainment. Netflix and Dark Horse have previously collaborated on the popular series The Umbrella Academy, Jonas Åkerlund’s feature film Polar,  and they are currently in production on the animated series, Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles. 

The cast is lead by Abubakr Ali (Power Book II: Ghost, Katy Keene, and lead in the upcoming feature from Orion Pictures/Killer Films What If, directed by Billy Porter) as the titular “Grendel”/“Hunter Rose.” On background, Ali is the first Arab Muslim male actor to portray a series lead in a comic book adaptation

The cast also includes:

Jaime Ray Newman (Dopesick, The Punisher) as “Jocasta Rose”

Julian Black Antelope (The Flash, Debris) as “Argent”

Madeline Zima (Californication, Hacks) as “Liz Sparks”

Kevin Corrigan (Scenes from an Empty Church, The Get Down) as “Barry Palumbo”

Emma Ho (Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, The Expanse) as “Stacy Palumbo”

Erik Palladino (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Watchmen) as “Teddy Ciccone”

Brittany Allen (The Boys, Taken) as “Annabelle Wright”

Andy Mientus (The Flash, Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings) as “Larry Stohler”

“I couldn’t be more thrilled about the GRENDEL saga, one of the longest-running independent comics series, finally being translated into live-action for the screen,” said Grendel creator Matt Wagner. “Under the sharp guidance of showrunner Andrew Dabb, our incredible creative team, sure-to-be stellar cast and Darkhorse Entertainment have teamed with Netflix to produce this provocative adaptation that will bring my characters and concepts to an all new audience and yet still provide excitement and surprises for die-hard fans.  I’m especially excited to see Abubakr Ali bring the character of Grendel/Hunter Rose to life — he has the charisma, style and vital edginess that I’ve been envisioning in the role for years”