Paramount+ Scottish Drama ‘Laird’ Rounds Out Cast
'Laird' adds a half dozen faces to the cast as filming continues in Scotland.
It’s been almost two years since Taylor Sheridan’s Yellowstone ended, but the gritty contemporary Western is still casting a long shadow over the entertainment industry. Not only are there official spinoffs (Dutton Ranch, Marshals) and prequels (1923, 1883), but Sheridan has also tried to recapture its success multiple times via properties like Tulsa King and Landman. That’s not even counting the steadily increasing number of completely unrelated series trying to copy the formula that made the original series so popular.
Paramount+’s forthcoming series Laird is absolutely (and largely unabashedly) part of that latter group, but its prestige cast and unique setting at least help it stand out from the pack. The show’s premise couldn’t be more obvious: what if Yellowstone, but Scottish? Set against the stunning backdrop of the Highlands, the series follows a Scottish laird (it’s right there in the title, after all) as he battles an American billionaire who’s determined to buy up the glens.
Sir Kenneth Branagh (Belfast) plays the as-yet-unnamed Laird of Castle Drummoch opposite Peter Sarsgaard’s (Presumed Innocent) equally unidentified shadowy oligarch. Presumably lots of posturing, some threats of physical violence, and gritty power struggles over land will ensue.
Here’s the series’ synopsis.
Set in the modern Scottish Highlands, Laird is an epic family saga in which a proud Scot defies a shadowy American billionaire hellbent on buying up the glens. Amidst family feuds, buried secrets and star-crossed romances, the Laird of Castle Drummochemains determined to protect his ancestral lands from oligarchical land grabbing.
Branagh and Sarsgaard will be joined by a supporting cast full of faces that will be familiar to Anglophiles, including Jennifer Ehle (The Vampire Lestat), Peter Mullan (Outlander: Blood of My Blood), Phia Saban (House of the Dragon), Ruaridh Mollica (VisionQuest), Holliday Granger (The Capture), Douglas Hodge (The Night Manager), and Corey Mylchreest (My Oxford Year).
Jez Butterworth (MobLand), John-Henry Butterworth (The Agency), and Georgia Lee (The 100) created and wrote the series, with Joe Wright (Pride & Prejudice) aboard to direct the pilot episode. Branagh, Wright, and both Butterworths are executive producers, alongside David C. Glasser, Ron Burkle, David Hutkin, Bob Yari, Charles Finch, and Keith Cox.
Laird is currently filming in Scotland and London. It doesn’t have a premiere date yet, but it seems likely to arrive sometime in 2027.
