Richard Madden Reteams with Jed Mercurio for 'Trinity'

Despite PBS successfully importing the best of British television for nearly forty years, when the streaming revolution hit, it wasn't immediately apparent to most production studios how well contemporary U.K. shows would fare with American audiences. Only Netflix figured it out early on, when it imported most of the BBC Two lineup of Home and Garden shows, and then landed PBS' The Great British Baking Show, which stands today as one of the streaming service's most reliable hits. It wasn't until 2018 when Netflix launched Bodyguard, inspired by the success of series creator Jed Mercurio's Line of Duty on the BBC, that most places realized the U.K.'s love of tightly paced thrillers held true for Americans as well. However, Bodyguard was a standalone, and there was no Season 2; meanwhile, everyone else scooped up Mercurio's post-Line of Duty shows, leaving Netflix with no follow-up.

It's been nearly seven years since Bodyguard's surprise smash hit on the service, and most viewers have long since forgotten it or given up on a sequel. So, of course, now is the time that Netflix finally lands a new standalone thriller from the Mercurio team. Though the streaming service has not formally announced it, Variety reports that Netflix has greenlit Trinity. A new standalone political thriller, the series will reunite Mercurio with the star of Bodyguard, Richard Madden (Game of Thrones).

Madden initially parlayed the one-two punch of three seasons (and a spectacular death) on Game of Thrones, followed by Bodyguard's success, into an A-list career starring in high-profile, ambitious films and series. Unfortunately for him, those wound up being Marvel's Eternals and Prime Video's Citadel, both of which wound up spectacular flops. With no movement on the former getting a sequel, and the latter being canned by Amazon Studios, it makes sense for Madden to retrace his steps back to the last place where he thrived to see if he can find success again.