So much television, so little time. One show I’ve been meaning to catch up with is BBC‘s “Peaky Blinders,” the gangster drama set in the days after World War I that follows the deeds of the dangerous kingpin Tommy Shelby, played by none other than Cillian Murphy. That’s right, Cillian Murphy is leading a TV show and I’m somehow not watching it. Well, it looks like some fresh incentive has arrived for everyone to start catching up.
Revealed by “Peaky Blinders” Twitter fans, and confirmed by our sources, Tom Hardy is joining season two of the show. Damn. He’ll be playing “a charismatic leader who presents a unique opportunity to Tommy,” and it would seem that following “Locke,” Hardy and the film and show’s writer Steven Knight are getting on quite famously. And even though they’ve done two Christopher Nolan films together—”The Dark Knight Rises” and “Inception“—we presume Hardy and Murphy will finally get to share some significant screen time together on the show. Either way, nice casting—season two will air later this year, probably in the fall.
In other TV news (and speaking of British shows I still need to watch), the comedy “Cuckoo” is getting a switcheroo in the lead role. Andy Samberg is out, and uh, Taylor Lautner is in for the second season of the show. How will he be incorporated? Well first, Samberg’s character is essentially killed off, and we’ll let BBC explain the rest:
Shortly after renewing their wedding vows, Cuckoo (Andy Samberg) flew the coop to continue researching his book. While on walkabout in the foothills of the Himalayas, he went missing… eventually presumed dead.
It’s now two years since his disappearance and life in the Thompson family house is only just getting back to normal. Ken (Greg Davies) and Lorna (Helen Baxendale) are looking forward to a future without the kids under their feet. Dylan (Tyger Drew-Honey) is about to go to university and Rachel (Tamla Kari) is rebuilding her life with her new boyfriend, a nice-but-dull lawyer, Ben. Despite appearances, Cuckoo’s absence is still felt – not least by his young widow, Rachel. Everyone worries she’s lost her mojo since the tragic events in Asia.
This fragile equilibrium is well and truly shattered when a handsome and mysterious young stranger (Taylor Lautner) appears in Lichfield, looking for the man who found fame and philosophy in the simplest of hot snacks: the jack-et po-ta-to.
No word yet on when the second season will air.
Lastly, EW reports that Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy will be making a guest appearance on “Parks & Recreation.” He’ll be playing the lead singer of the most popular band in Indiana, Land Ho!, who is asked to get the group back together for a Unity concert to celebrate the merger of Pawnee and Eagleton. The episode will air this spring.