Netflix has dropped its newest series, the period drama House of Guinness, with a cast comprising of Happy Valley’s James Norton, Handsome Devil’s Fionn O’Shea, Smother’s Dervla Kirwan, Masters of the Air’s Anthony Boyle, Enola Holmes’ Louis Partridge, The Responder’s Emily Fairn, and Game of Thrones’ Jack Gleeson.
Set in 19th-century Dublin and New York, the show follows the Guinness family, who are indeed the ones behind Ireland’s most iconic beverage.
The plot kicks off after the death of Sir Benjamin Guinness, the man who transformed the family brewery into a globally-successful business, served as the first Lord Mayor of Dublin, and became the wealthiest man in Ireland.
His will had a huge impact on his four children, altering the course of all their lives, with there’s a whole host of other people with personal and professional interests in the family and their empire.
In short, it sounds a bit like Succession but with pints.
As Norton himself put it, “[The show’s] got beer. It’s got this eccentric family. We’ve got these Steven Knight characters all kind of jostling and playing, fighting, f**king. It’s just, like, really exciting!
He added that his fellow cast mates also helped him with his accent, and that he had “a ball” making the show.
“It’s an amazing group of people, a lot of Irish actors, lots of Guinness, I’m the only non-Irish interloper who ironically is playing the most Irish of them all, I’ve got to be as Dubs as they come,” he explained.
He also teased its Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight “at his absolute best” and “firing on all cylinders”.
Norton recently appeared in the BBC’s King & Conqueror, another period drama that saw him play Harold Goodwinson, an ally of Edward the Confessor, before he decides to turn on the King and tries to claim the throne for himself.