Saltburn and Banshees of Inisherin star Barry Keoghan will return as Jonny McGee in Jonny Boy, a five-episode prequel series to the BAFTA-winning British crime drama Top Boy, which ran for 5 seasons between 2011 and 2023. Netflix has also announced another spinoff series centred on Jaq, with Jasmine Jobson set to return.
Barry Keoghan has added another big project to his stacked slate of upcoming roles, which includes playing Ringo Starr in Sam Mendes’ four-film Beatles biopic and reprising his role as Joker in Matt Reeves’ The Batman: Part II. His upcoming Netflix project, the recently-announced 5-episode Top Boy prequel series Jonny Boy, sees him reprise his role Jonny McGee. He both lead the series and executive produce with his production outfit Wolfcub.
Running for five seasons between 2011 and 2023, Top Boy is a British crime drama series chronicling drug dealers navigating gang life in East London. Written by Ronan Bennett, it originally ran for two seasons on Channel 4 in the UK before being cancelled. However, during its 2-season run it garnered a cult following, and executive producer and rapper Aubrey Graham, better known by his stage name Drake, championed its return. The series was later revived at Netflix, debuting a new season in September 2019. It ultimately wrapped its main story in September 2023,
Despite the main story ending, there was plenty of space left over for additional narratives. Back in January 2026, Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett revealed that the franchise has plenty more original stories to offer. “I think that the world of Top Boy, the world that we jointly created, is so rich, it’s so deep, and it has that fanatical following that it’s something that still has life in it,” he said, per Deadline. “Some shows reach their end, and you kind of go, ‘Thank god they’ve ended, I love that show, but they’ve run out of steam’. But I do feel that there’s more juice to squeeze from Top Boy.”
The first spinoff will follow Keoghan’s character Jonny McGee, a drug distributor for a the Irish crime syndicate, working for his uncle, Tadgh McGee (Brian Gleeson). The prequel series– titled ‘Jonny Boy’ — was revealed during the Netflix Spotlight panel at Edinburgh TV Festival. The 5-part series marks the return of Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett, as well as Aubrey Graham as executive producer. Keoghan will serve as an executive producer. Also involved is Ali Abbasi (The Apprentice, The Last of Us), who has joined the project as a director.
“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,” Wolfcub founders Keoghan and Des Byrne said in a statement. “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.”
Production on Jonny Boy begins in 2027.
Netflix is also developing another ‘Top Boy’ spinoff series based on Jaq
Barry Keoghan’s return in Jonny Boy isn’t the only big development for the franchise. The streamer has also announced another spinoff focused on Jaq, with Jasmine Jobson reprising her role. Jobson was nominated for a BAFTA for her performance as Jacqueline (known as Jaq), the operations manager for the Summerhouse gang introduced in Season 3 (Season 1 of the Netflix era). Ronan Bennett is also serving as an executive producer on this series.
The Jaq series is currently untitled. It is created and written by Ryan Calais Cameron, who is best known for the play For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Hue Gets Too Heavy.
Filming on the untitled Jaq series takes place in 2027.
In the meantime, all five seasons in the Top Boy world are now streaming on Netflix.
