Barry Keoghan to Lead and Produce ‘Top Boy’ Prequel Series ‘Jonny Boy’ at Netflix (Exclusive)

Jonny McGee will be back on our screens very soon.

Netflix has greenlit Jonny Boy, a five-episode prequel series from the world of BAFTA-winning British crime drama Top Boy, produced by Cowboy Films.

Award-winning actor Barry Keoghan, best known for his roles in Saltburn and Banshees of Inisherin, and who will next be seen as Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ Beatles biopics, will reprise his role as Jonny, Irish drug partner to Kane Robinson’s Sully. He’ll also executive produce the series with his production outfit Wolfcub.

Creator and writer of Top Boy, Ronan Bennett (The Day of the Jackal, MobLand), is also returning for Jonny Boy, as is Aubrey Graham, better known as the Canadian rapper Drake, who executive produced the original show. The Apprentice and The Last of Us‘ Ali Abbasi is signed on to direct, with filming set to kick off in 2027.

“Wolfcub Productions is proud to bring Jonny McGee — the character introduced in Top Boy‘s third and final season — to the screen in Jonny Boy,” said Wolfcub founders Keoghan and Des Byrne. “We pitched our vision and idea to Netflix and the executive producers, and they were so supportive in wanting to bring our passion project forward, exploring Jonny McGee’s origin story through a new bold lens.”

Keoghan and Byrne are joined by fellow executive producers Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind for Cowboy Films (The Last King of Scotland, Marley, Top Boy), Ronan Bennett for Easter Partisan Films, Aubrey Drake Graham and Adel “Future” Nur for DreamCrew Entertainment, Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson for SpringHill Studios, a Fulwell Entertainment label, and Ali Abbasi.

Netflix’s U.K. vp of content, Anne Mensah, shared the news of Jonny Boy in her spotlight session at Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday afternoon.

The first two seasons of Top Boy aired on Channel 4 from 2011 to 2013, before it was dropped just a year later. Following interest from Drake, Netflix vowed to revive the series in 2017 with original stars Ashley Walters and Kane Robinson reprising their roles as Dushane and Sully.

Set on the fictional Summerhouse estate in Hackney, east London, Top Boy would run for three more seasons on the streaming giant. Its fifth and final installment, in which Keoghan’s Jonny McGee was introduced, aired in 2023. The show won the BAFTA TV Award for best drama in 2024.

Keoghan spoke to The Hollywood Reporter just earlier this year about the ethos of Wolfcub. “Places like [Saltburn producers] LuckyChap and [Killing of a Sacred Deer producers] Element Pictures have been massive for me,” the 33-year-old said about his producing inspirations.

“Working with the lads, getting to see how they operate when they’re on set, it’s things like that where I’m using my experience now… As un-fun as it sounds, you have to always be in love with it, want to work with the filmmaker, and [you] want it to be a new kind of challenge, you know?” he added.