Jodie Comer To Lead Upcoming HBO Thriller The Chain

Since she gripped audiences in her chameleonic role as Villanelle in BBC America’s hit spy thriller Killing Eve (2018–22), we haven’t often gotten to see much of British star Jodie Comer on the small screen. But last week HBO revealed it has cast the star in its upcoming high-stakes thriller The Chain, which sees an unsuspecting mother pushed to her limits… Here’s what we know.

The Chain: Plot, Cast, Release Date & More

In 2023, Comer starred as a mother struck by climate catastrophe in The End We Start From.

The Plot

The Chain is a Black Mirror-style thriller that centres on Rachel Klein (Comer), a mother who drops her daughter Kylie off at the bus stop and heads into what seems like just another ordinary day.

But then a phone call from an unknown number changed everything. The woman on the other end has Kylie bound and gagged in the back seat of her car, and the only way Rachel will get to see her daughter again is to follow these instructions exactly: Pay the ransom, and find another child to abduct. Why? Because this woman is a mother herself, and her son has been taken by someone else. If Rachel doesn’t comply, the boy will die.

Rachel is now part of The Chain, an unending scheme that turns victims into criminals and makes one anonymous mastermind very rich, very quickly. Indeed, if there’s one thing the brains behind The Chain know, it’s this: parents will do anything for their children – kidnapping is just the beginning.

Similar in concept to recent drama All Her Fault, The Chain raises the stakes astronomically. It bears similarities to Charlie Brooker’s haunting 2016 episode of Black Mirror, ‘Shut Up and Dance’, in which strangers are thrown together and blackmailed by an anonymous source.

Based on Adrian McKinty’s bestselling 2019 novel of the same name, the series has been created and written by Damon Lindelof who we are told is ‘expanding the mythology of McKinty’s award-winning thriller’. Lindelof is best known for creating Lost (2004–10), The Leftovers (2014–17) and Mrs Davis (2013). While HBO is keeping details underwraps, there is one thread connecting those dramas: they all have a supernatural element.

‘From the moment I heard the wild and original premise of Adrian’s book, I was shocked, surprised and angry I hadn’t thought of it myself,’ Lindelof said on the series’ first announcement in January 2026. ‘I’ve always wanted to try to adapt a great thriller and this one has all the dark, weird, exhilarating touches that fire up my imagination.’

Lindelof has teamed up with television studio Media Res to bring the eight-part drama to our screens, the company that has previously brought us The Morning Show and Pachinko. Author McKinty is also a co-executive producer.

HBO’s head of drama Francesca Orsi describes Lindelof as ‘one of the most singular and distinctive creators of our time,’ adding that the series ‘promises to continue his legacy of dropping us into the pit of the human brain and delivering in ways not only emotionally daring but, ultimately, transformative’.

Jodie Comer in PRIMA FACIE by Suzie Miller; Directed by Justin Martin; Set Design by Miriam Buether; Lighting Design by Natasha Chivers; Sound Design by Ben & Max Ringham; Composer: Rebecca Lucy Taylor; Video by Willie Williams for Treatment Studio; Production photography by Helen Murray; empire street productions; Harold Pinter Theatre; London, UK. 25th April 2022. (© empire street productions, photo by Helen Murray)

Jodie Comer Leads The Series

British star Jodie Comer is set to lead the series as Rachel. She is the only star announced so far.

Having been born and raised in Liverpool and risen to fame appearing in Channel 4’s series My Mad Fat Diary (2013–15) and BBC thriller Doctor Foster (2015–17), Comer garnered acclaim and global recognition for her turn as sociopathic assassin Villanelle opposite Sandra Oh in spy thriller Killing Eve, for which she earned a TV BAFTA and a Primetime Emmy Award.

She has since starred in Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel (2021) opposite Adam Driver, as well as The End We Start From (2023), The Bikeriders (2023) with Austin Butler, and 28 Years Later (2025) with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams and Ralph Fiennes.

In 2022, Comer made her West End debut in Suzie Miller’s one-woman play, Prima Facie, bagging an Oliver Award for her staggering performance as a barrister who specialises in defending men accused of sexual assault. For the 2023 Broadway transfer, Comer added a Tony Award to her collection. She will reprise her role on a UK tour in 2026.

Release Date

No news just yet from HBO on when filming will begin or when The Chain will be released. Stay tuned for more.