Richard Gadd is quickly establishing himself as a master of uncomfortable viewing. If Baby Reindeer, the wildly popular 2024 Netflix series he wrote and starred in, raised tough questions about masculinity, power and sexuality, his sequel Half Man does the same thing, on steroids.
The six-episode co-production between HBO and BBC, which ends on May 28, is set in 1980s Scotland and follows the lives of two young boys whose mothers begin an affair when they are teenagers. The nerdy Niall (played by Mitchell Robertson as a teenager and Jamie Bell as an adult) and the wayward Reuben (played by Stuart Campbell and Gad) are polar opposites. However, over time, their relationship changes from hostility and abuse to friendship and brotherhood. Perhaps even incestuous desires. HBO boss Casey Bloys wasn’t kidding when he described it as “intense.”
Like “Baby Reindeer,” the protagonists of “Half Man” are deeply loathsome yet strangely sympathetic. In Campbell and Gadd’s hands, Reuben, the embodiment of toxic masculinity, takes on a convincing and even mesmerizing pathos. (Some viewers may find themselves rooting for Belle over Niall, who becomes increasingly self-pitying.) But, as the show repeatedly reminds us, he’s also deeply dangerous.
“There are two different types of Reuben,” says Gadd. “There’s a calculating version of Reuben, and there’s an explosive, instant version of Reuben.” Both are deadly.
Still, it’s not just audiences who are drawn to Reuben. Throughout the series, Niall can’t seem to let go of his stepbrother and calls him at the first opportunity when he leaves for college, leading to devastating, life-altering consequences. And Ruben is similarly attracted to Niall, despite his outbursts. “I think protectionism and possessiveness are always intertwined with Ruben in his relationship with Nile,” Campbell says.
That’s immediately evident from the premiere, in a challenging scene in which Reuben not only forces Niall to lose his virginity, but also procures a woman to have sex with and forces her onto him, as well as continuing to placate Niall throughout the act. “It was a lot scarier to watch on paper than it was to actually film it,” Campbell says of the episode, which required two intimacy coordinators. “For me, that scene emphasized Niall’s lack of autonomy.”
Given the theme of the show, it’s no surprise that considerable attention was paid to the cast’s emotional and mental health. Julie Cullen, who plays Niall’s college housemate Joanna, said the show’s team of intimacy coordinators encouraged actors to “check in with each other” after particularly intense scenes. “We had a lot of people helping us with whatever we needed,” Karen says. “We needed it.”
A bond also developed between the cast members, especially Campbell and Robertson, which lent itself to some of the more emotional scenes between the young actors. Campbell, who played the role of violently kicking Niall’s friend in the head repeatedly in the second episode (in real life he used a punching bag), says his relationship with Robertson was essential to accessing the anger and emotional depth needed to play Reuben.
“(We) quickly became very close friends,” he says. “With him, I felt safe and able to be vulnerable and challenge myself and go where the relationship and the script needed me to go.”
However, the relationship between Ruben and Niall is not so simple. As well as being friends and step-brothers, there is also an undercurrent of sexual and even incestuous feelings that are never explicitly addressed. When asked what he thought of it, Robertson replied, “It wasn’t something I played on purpose.” For him, Niall’s obsession with Reuben stems from awe and fascination, and Bell also incorporated those themes into his portrayal.
But Gadd, who wrote the series, admits it exists. “I think that’s the undercurrent,” he says. “I think their relationship is inherently complicated. It’s an idolatrous mix of love and hate and worship and need. I think they’ve spent their whole lives essentially bound but not fully understanding the depth of their feelings for each other. And that’s what I wanted to explore. I don’t think they even know how much they love each other.”
Each episode ends in the present, with Nile celebrating his wedding to Alby (played by Bilal Hasna as a college student and Charlie DeMello as an adult) when Ruben, fresh from prison, shows up uninvited. Shot over three days in a remote Scottish barn, the increasingly menacing scenes culminate in the season finale. Gad wants to keep spoilers a secret, but thanks to the release of episode 4, viewers already know that Reuben will die. It remains to be seen whether he will take Niall with him.
Gadd recalls that filming the showdown between the two men was physically demanding and the schedule was so tight that he was only able to film a few takes. “It felt like one of those things where you had to take a deep breath and absolutely get it done,” Gadd says. The ending is likely to divide opinion, especially since so many questions are left unanswered.
But for Gadd, that’s what makes the work so compelling, saying, “I don’t think a happy ending, or even a definitive ending, is really true to life.”
