24 May 2019
The second season of Emmy-winning killer comedy Barry is only on Showmax
- Bill Hader and Henry Winkler in Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated roles
- TV Program of The Year, 2019 American Film Institute Awards
- Topped Best of 2018 lists in The New York Times and The Washington Post
- 99% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes
- “A must-see tour-de-force” – Collider
Season 2 of Barry is now streaming first on Showmax in South Africa, with Bill Hader and Henry Winkler reprising their Emmy-winning and Golden Globe-nominated roles in HBO’s killer comedy series about a depressed war vet-turned-hitman who finds passion and romance in a local acting class while on a job in Hollywood.
Barry is created and executive produced by Hader, a three-time Emmy nominee for Saturday Night Live, and Alec Berg, an 18-time Emmy nominee for the likes of Silicon Valley, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Seinfeld.
“Violence has wrecked this guy’s soul,” says Hader. “For him to become this killer, he was broken down; aspects of his personality are just gone. He needs to rebuild that. But instead of him being in group therapy, we thought it would be funnier if it was a stupid acting class in the valley.”
“We both liked this idea of a guy who does not like what he’s great at but falls in love with something he might be terrible at, and what should he pursue: his brain or his heart?” says Berg. “Being an actor requires being known, and being a killer requires being unknown, so the whole show is really about the clash between those worlds.”
Or as Hader puts it, “His job is in the shadows and he wants to live in the spotlight. And that doesn’t work.”
As Season 2 opens, Barry (Hader) tries to extricate himself from a violent criminal triangle involving the Chechen, Bolivian and Burmese underworld – not to mention some deeply suspicious LA detectives and Monroe Fuches (Stephen Root from Get Out), Barry’s erstwhile boss, who has found it exceedingly difficult to hire a replacement as capable as his one-time ace assassin.
Other cast regulars include Henry Winkler (Arrested Development) as Gene Cousineau, a pompous yet endearing acting teacher who takes Barry under his wing; Sarah Goldberg (Hindsight) as Sally, a dedicated acting student and Barry’s on- and off-again love interest; and Anthony Carrigan (Gotham) as NoHo Hank, now in the hot seat as the new head of the Chechen mob in LA.
At the 2019 American Film Institute Awards, Barry was named TV Program Of The Year, after topping Best of 2018 year-end lists in the likes of The New York Times and The Washington Post. This year Barry has also taken home prizes from the likes of The Director’s Guild of America, The Writer’s Guild of America, and The Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards.
Barry currently has a 99% critics rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Collider hailing it as “a must-see tour-de-force… one of the best and most surprising debuts in recent memory… will have you laughing and emotionally moved in equal measure.”
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