''Run'' is an American
comedy thriller
Comedy thrillers are a hybrid genre that draw subject matter generally from comedy and thrillers.
Criteria
They often include a darker tone, relative to other genres, of humor.
List of comedy thriller films
* '' The Big Fix'' (1978)
* ''Charad ...
television series created by
Vicky Jones
Vicky Jones (born 1978) is an English actress, stage director playwright and screenwriter, who is the co-artistic director of DryWrite Theatre Company, along with her frequent collaborator Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Early life
Jones was born in She ...
that premiered on April 12, 2020 on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
.
It stars
Merritt Wever
Merritt Carmen Wever (born August 11, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for starring as a perennially upbeat young nurse in ''Nurse Jackie'' (2009–2015), an intrepid widow in the Netflix period miniseries '' Godless'' (2017), and a de ...
and
Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleeson (; born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and screenwriter. He is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, with whom he has appeared in a number of films and theatre projects. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts from Dublin Inst ...
, and one of its executive producers is Jones' frequent collaborator,
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. ...
. ''Run''s
pilot episode
A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...
was directed by Kate Dennis.
In July 2020, HBO canceled the series after one season.
Premise
Cast
Main
*
Merritt Wever
Merritt Carmen Wever (born August 11, 1980) is an American actress. She is known for starring as a perennially upbeat young nurse in ''Nurse Jackie'' (2009–2015), an intrepid widow in the Netflix period miniseries '' Godless'' (2017), and a de ...
as Ruby Richardson, a woman looking to reinvent herself
*
Domhnall Gleeson
Domhnall Gleeson (; born 12 May 1983) is an Irish actor and screenwriter. He is the son of actor Brendan Gleeson, with whom he has appeared in a number of films and theatre projects. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Media Arts from Dublin Inst ...
as Billy Johnson, a successful life guru
Recurring
*
Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. ...
as Laurel Halliday, a woman whom Ruby and Billy meet while on their journey
*
Rich Sommer
Rich Sommer (born February 2, 1978) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Harry Crane on the AMC drama series ''Mad Men''. He is also known for his roles in the comedy-drama films '' The Devil Wears Prada'' (2006), ''Celeste and ...
as Laurence Richardson, Ruby's husband
*
Tamara Podemski
Tamara Podemski (born October 16, 1977) is a Canadian film and television actress and writer.Rick Garrick"Indigenous multidisciplinary artist to host 13th Annual Outside Looking In Gala in Toronto this Spring" ''Anishinabek News'', March 9, 2020. ...
as Babe Cloud, a police detective
*
Archie Panjabi
Archana Panjabi (born 31 May 1972) is a British actress. She has had various roles in both UK and US television including as Maya Roy in ''Life on Mars'' (2006–07), Nas Kamal in NBC crime drama '' Blindspot'' (2016–17, 2020), Kendra Malle ...
as Fiona, Billy's former personal assistant
*
Shaun J. Brown as Ryan Everwood, a police detective
*Jake Bover as Scooter Richardson, Ruby's son
*Kelsey Flower as Daniel
Guest
*
Stephen McKinley Henderson
Stephen McKinley Henderson (born August 31, 1949) is an American actor and director. Henderson trained at Juilliard School for acting and later became a resident member of the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis from 1976 to 1981. He came to prominen ...
as John ("Run")
*
Annie Golden
Annie Golden (born October 19, 1951) is an American actress and singer. She first came to prominence as the lead singer of the punk band the Shirts from 1975 to 1981 with whom she recorded three albums. She began her acting career as Mother in ...
as Marjorie ("Run")
* Maxwell Simkins as Hunter Richardson ("Chase")
*
Deirdre Lovejoy
Deirdre Lovejoy (born June 30, 1962) is an American actress.
She is best known for her role as Assistant State's Attorney Rhonda Pearlman on HBO’s ''The Wire''. She is also known for her roles as a serial killer List of Bones characters#The G ...
as Mary Dixie ("Fuck")
* Saamer Usmani as Derek ("Kiss")
Episodes
Reception
Critical response
The
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
reported an 84% approval rating with an average rating of 7.04/10, based on 38 reviews. The website's critical consensus states, "Though it can't always sustain its frenetic pace, ''Run'' sharp subversions of romcom clichés are never less than entertaining thanks to Merritt Wever and Domhnall Gleeson's electrifying performances." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, it has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100, based on 21 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Alan Sepinwall
Alan Sepinwall (born October 19, 1973) is an American television reviewer and writer. He spent 14 years as a columnist with ''The Star-Ledger'' in Newark until leaving the newspaper in 2010 to work for the entertainment news website HitFix. He th ...
of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'' praised the two central performances, with Wever in particular garnering critical acclaim. He wrote that "the heat between them is palpable enough to carry this oddball mix of sexual farce and
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featur ...
thriller".
Ratings
References
External links
*
{{HBONetwork Shows
2020s American black comedy television series
2020 American television series debuts
2020 American television series endings
English-language television shows
HBO original programming
Television series by Entertainment One
American thriller television series