From Breakout Confession to HBO Max Thriller
Half Man, the new six-part HBO Max thriller drama from Baby Reindeer creator Richard Gadd, arrives carrying impossible expectations. Billed as his first fully fictional project, it trades the one-man confessional of his Netflix hit for a sprawling, multi-decade male relationships drama about two stepbrothers bound by violence and loyalty. The series opens on the wedding day of Niall Kennedy, played in the present by Jamie Bell, whose fragile celebration implodes when estranged brother Ruben Pallister (Gadd) shows up and a brutal confrontation erupts. From there, Half Man jumps between the present and the 1980s, charting 30 years of brotherhood, trauma and codependence as the boys’ mothers move in together and their sons are forced to share a room and a life. Gadd again writes, stars and executive produces, making this very clearly the creative Baby Reindeer follow up fans have been waiting for.
Early Verdict: Visceral Brilliance or Punishing Overkill?
Initial critical response to Half Man HBO is strong but noticeably more divided than Baby Reindeer’s near-unanimous acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has debuted with a 69% score from critics, signaling mixed-to-positive reactions that nonetheless praise the show’s ferocious intensity and richly drawn characters. Reviewers highlight the volatile chemistry between Gadd and Bell, and many single out the drama’s unflinching exploration of masculinity, family burden and the fragility of male relationships as its core strength. At the same time, some critics argue the relentless emotional and physical brutality becomes numbing and that the narrative occasionally feels repetitive, stretching one toxic bond across six hour-long episodes. One reviewer even calls it “the most uncomfortable TV series I’ve ever seen,” admiring its ruthlessness while admitting they’d never willingly rewatch it. Compared with Baby Reindeer’s 99% critical score, Half Man is impressive but clearly more polarizing.
Gadd’s Evolving Obsessions: Masculinity, Trauma and Blurred Truths
Richard Gadd’s new series may be fictional, but Half Man unmistakably extends the thematic universe he built with Baby Reindeer. Both shows operate in a confessional register, even when names and details change. In Baby Reindeer, Gadd mined his own experience of being stalked; here, he relocates that rawness into a male relationships drama about two “half men” who cannot function with or without each other. Half Man dissects toxic masculinity without ever uttering the phrase: Ruben’s violence is excused as him being “unwell,” while Niall internalizes shame about his sexuality and choices. As in Baby Reindeer, Gadd blurs the emotional line between reality and invention, pushing viewers to confront taboo topics—abuse, coercion, repressed desire, complicity—without easy catharsis. Where the earlier series felt like a single, spiralling confession, Half Man widens the canvas to examine how families and institutions enable male brutality over decades.
Casting the Brothers: Why the Young Niall and Ruben Matter
Half Man’s emotional power depends heavily on believing Niall and Ruben’s bond across three decades, and the casting is deliberately engineered to make that connection feel disturbingly real. Gadd and Jamie Bell anchor the present-day story, playing estranged stepbrothers whose wedding-day showdown frames the series. But the show’s most haunting material often lies in the past, carried by Stuart Campbell as young Ruben and Mitchell Robertson as young Niall. Gadd specifically sought relatively unknown actors for these roles to increase the sense of authenticity on the small screen, arguing that unfamiliar faces help audiences buy into the world rather than think about celebrity. Campbell, whom Gadd had admired from a previous collaboration, brings a wounded charisma to Ruben’s early brutality, while Robertson’s self-tape convinced Gadd he had found Niall’s mix of intellect, fear and longing. Their performances make the later, adult toxicity feel tragically inevitable.
Does Half Man Escape Baby Reindeer’s Shadow—and Who Should Watch?
Whether Half Man HBO truly steps out from Baby Reindeer’s shadow depends on what viewers expect from a Richard Gadd new series. The show absolutely expands his fixation on masculinity, sexuality and family burden, swapping personal memoir for a broader critique of how boys are raised into damaged men. Yet some reviewers feel its subject matter and stylistic intensity risk making it play like a harsher, more constructed remix of Baby Reindeer’s discomfort. For audiences, the guidance is clear: if you valued Gadd’s willingness to make you squirm, this HBO Max thriller drama delivers more of that, amplified. Expect graphic violence, emotional abuse, homophobia, self-destructive behavior and sustained psychological manipulation. For some, that will make Half Man “the most uncomfortable TV series” they’ve seen—in a way that feels artistically necessary. For others, the unbroken tension will be simply too much to endure.