Stephen Graham Plans Follow-Up Series to ‘Adolescence’ After Emmy Win

Fresh from picking up six trophies at the Emmy awards, the team behind Adolescence have revealed they are plotting a sequel.

Stephen Graham, 52, the creator of the hit Netflix show, confirmed he was ‘in talks’ for a follow-up series which could see Ashley Walters return to his role as a policeman.

The Liverpudlian actor starred in the groundbreaking drama as Eddie Miller, father of schoolboy Jamie who is accused of murdering a classmate.

He told the Daily Mail: ‘Right now we are having talks and discussions about finding another story. I think we have to be tight-lipped at the moment. And we’re all talking at the moment. The same concept with the idea of doing something in one take.’

Graham and his wife Hannah Walters will take the lead through their production firm Matriarch Productions on the upcoming drama, and will once again work with Brad Pitt’s Hollywood firm Plan B.

But fans hoping to learn more of Jamie’s guilt or his father Eddie’s crumbling mental state will be disappointed as Graham ruled out the follow-up story featuring any of the Miller family.

This means Owen Cooper, 15, who became the youngest ever male winner of an Emmy on Sunday, will not appear, nor will Chrstine Tremarco who played mum Manda.

Graham said: ‘We will not see more from this family. This family is finished. But the format and how we make the programme will continue.’

The This Is England star left open the door to other characters returning for the Adolescence follow-up, and specifically singled-out Ashley Walters, 43, who played copper DI Luke Bascombe, for praise.

He said: ‘Ashley is one of our finest actors, who has never had the opportunity to play a role other than the role he’s played. But that’s all it’s about, about creating opportunities.

‘Ashley has so much gravity in his performance, do you know what I mean? Especially in this performance. And he brought heart and soul to this.’

The four-part drama won best limited series at the Emmys, plus prizes for directing and writing, and gongs for stars Graham, Cooper and Erin Doherty, who played child psychologist Briony Ariston. It also picked up two awards for casting and cinematography earlier in the month at the Creative Emmys.

Hailed as a landmark drama sparking fresh conversations about young men and the ‘manosphere’, the show was filmed when Cooper was just 14, with each episode shot as a single take.

Graham expressed how the eight gong Emmy success had inspired him to continue creating. 

 He said: ‘It’s made me believe that with the right people around and the right people who believe in the vision that you have as a collective, anything is possible.’

Smiling, he admitted that he was humbled by all the trophies – not just his own.

He said: ‘They’re all as equal as each other. They, because with the writing one, you couldn’t have the producing one, and then you couldn’t have the acting one. So it’s a trifecta. It really seems to work.’

‘When I was a kid, my mom used to always say, “you’re never above anyone and you’re never below anyone. We’re all equals”. And I’m a mixed-race kid from a little block of flats in a place called Kirby. 

‘So I know what it’s like to be, yeah, I’ve had my struggles, I’ve had my ups, I’ve had my downs, but it’s trying to find that peace which I have today, and it’s spreading that love, man. Do you know what I mean?’

‘You know yourself. If you make people feel good, you get the best out of them.’