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Paul Mescal As George Best? Casting Man Utd’s New The Crown-Style TV Drama
“Hated, adored, never ignored.”
It’s not exactly the most flattering slogan, but it is one which Manchester United as an institution have wholeheartedly embraced—so much so that it even serves as the team’s official social media bio. It is also undoubtedly true.
The storied behemoth of English football have been the best show on TV for decades. Whether its the millions of fans drinking in the club’s tidal wide of titles or the millions more rubbernecking at their modern failings, Manchester United are appointment viewing.
The powerbrokers at Lionsgate certainly seem to agree. The major North American production company have struck a deal with the Premier League giants to create a TV drama of the club’s history, as revealed by The Athletic.
Reports suggest that the project is still very much in its brainstorming phase. The hugely popular Netflix series The Crown, a dramatic reimagining of the British royal family which sweeps across various decades, has been floated as a loose inspiration.
At this early stage of the production, here’s some casting suggestions for just a fraction of the iconic characters that have left their mark on Manchester United across the last 148 years.
Descendant of Chris (from Beethoven) As The Major
Where else to begin but with the St Bernard which kept the club alive before Manchester United had even been born?
Originally known as Newton Heath, the club was in financial ruin by 1901. To compound a failed fundraising event, club captain Harry Stafford managed to lose his dog, The Major.
It was later found by local businessman John Henry Davies, who bought the burly St Bernard off Stafford ahead of his daughter’s 12th birthday. This unlikely deal introduced Davies to Newton Heath’s plight, and ultimately led him to save the club from bankruptcy, ushering in the Manchester United era.
Unfortunately, Chris, the St Bernard which starred in Beethoven back in 1992, is no longer around, but perhaps one of his descendants will be up to the mighty task of playing The Major.
Brendan Gleeson As Sir Matt Busby
Sir Matt Busby took over Manchester United when they didn’t even have a stadium—Old Trafford had been bombed during World War II, forcing them to share Maine Road with local rivals Manchester City. By the time he left, they were the most revered team in the country, if not the continent.
Brendan Gleeson has the gravitas to play such a figure. Who else can really get away with the line: “At United we strive for perfection. If we fail, we might just have to settle for excellence”?
Eddie Redmayne As Sir Bobby Charlton
This is an important one to get right. Sir Bobby Charlton, together with Busby, is at the core of the myth and mystique surrounding Manchester United.
Having survived the Munich air disaster, where United’s team plane crashed in 1958, killing more than half of the 44 occupants including eight players, Charlton would establish himself as one of the greats of his generation. England’s World Cup winner would life the European Cup for Manchester United exactly 10 years after that tragedy in Germany.
Eddie Redmayne has the look of a young Charlton about him, but will have to get acquainted with a combover cap as the series winds on.
Paul Mescal As George Best
Paul Mescal is already cast to play Paul McCartney, the most entitled Beatle. Why not rope him in to play the fifth Beatle?
George MacKay As Denis Law
Denis Law would have been able to attest that watching Manchester United on TV is not always a good experience. The third member of the club’s “Holy Trinity,” the attacking triumvirate completed by Charlton and Best, discovered that his Manchester United career was over in 1973 from a small screen in an Aberdeen pub.
Rory Kinnear As Ron Atkinson
Rory Kinnear has got brilliant range. He’ll have to ramp up the charisma if he is to capture the bubbly personality of United’s manager for the first half of the 1980s, “Champagne Ron” Atkinson.
Brian Cox As Sir Alex Ferguson
Brian Cox, Succession’s potty-mouth patriarch Logan Roy, has already perfected Sir Alex Ferguson’s hairdryer treatment. If anything, he may have to dial it down a bit.
Éric Cantona As Éric Cantona
Who else would dare to play The King apart from The King himself? You could go down the de-aging technology route, but give Cantona a clean shave and a wig and you’ve got yourself the star of Ferguson’s first Premier League conquerers.
Cosmo Jarvis As Roy Keane
One of the issues with Éanna Hardwicke’s portrayal of Roy Keane in the freshly released Saipan is that he towers over Steve Coogan’s Mick McCarthy, which is not how reality would have it. Part of Keane’s charm—if that is the right word—is that he is one of football’s most terrifying figures despite being a slight 5'10".
Cosmo Jarvis, who perfected a surly demeanour in Shōgun, fits Keane’s deceptive proportions.
Timothée Chalamet As Ryan Giggs
If Marty Supreme has taught the world anything, aside from the fact that it’s never a good idea to steal a gangster’s dog, it’s that Timothée Chalamet can make an audience root for even the most unlikable character. On an entirely unrelated note, he would be a great pick for Ryan Giggs.
Leo Woodall As David Beckham
With typical lashings of humility, David Beckham and his wife Victoria have both named Brad Pitt as the ideal actor to play United’s former golden boy. Leo Woodall is a more youthful option, while figures like Joe Alwyn and Josh O’Connell could also get involved. Brooklyn Beckham, however, probably won’t be up for the role of his father.
Stephen Graham As Paul Scholes
I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way a 52-year-old Stephen Graham should be cast as a young Paul Scholes. He’s a Liverpool fan. But the “diehard” Red can surely shelve his club allegiances to get into the role of a proud Mancunian who has always looked and played beyond his years.
Daryl McCormack As Rio Ferdinand
At the end of his playing career, Rio Ferdinand was looking towards Hollywood. “I’d go for an emotional part, something off the wall,” the former centre back told FourFourTwo. “I’ve got too much for a henchman role. I’d need for it to be, I dunno, like Luther.
“Or if they’re looking for a new James Bond, I wouldn’t say that’s out of my comfort zone at all.”
Given his performance in the promos for the 2026 World Cup draw—which would be an insult to trees in the background of every school play were it to be simply described as wooden—perhaps Ferdinand should leave this role to the professionals.
Christopher Chung As Cristiano Ronaldo
Few actors have the chiselled physique to match the wilfully delusion attitude of a young Cristiano Ronaldo at Manchester United. But the eminently watchable Christopher Chung proved his suitability for this role with his portrayal of the ripped know-it-all Roddy Ho in Slow Horses.
Jack O’Connell As Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney’s longevity at Manchester United, from breakout 18-year-old sensation to wisened all-time top scorer, may demand the services of several actors. A grizzled iteration of Jack O’Connell should cover a large slice of the legendary striker’s career. (Go elsewhere for your cheap Shrek jokes.)
Toby Jones As Malcolm Glazer
The hotly controversial figure of the late Malcolm Glazer, the self-made American millionaire who bought Manchester United in 2005 and promptly loaded the club with crippling debts, was described by one judge as a “snake is sheep’s clothing rather than a wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
Luckily, Toby Jones has experience of playing villains.
Michael Sheen As David Moyes
Michael Sheen was masterful as Brian Clough during his doomed 44 days as Leeds United manager in the Damned United. He’ll have 10 months of content to work with while capturing David Moyes’s short-lived reign as Ferguson’s failed successor.
Adetomiwa Edun As Marcus Rashford
Adetomiwa Edun has already played Marcus Rashford once—sort of. Edun was the actor behind the role of Alex Hunter, the fictional character in FIFA’s “The Journey” game mode which was quite obviously based on Rashford’s staggering rise from obscurity to superstardom in 2016.
Damson Idris As Paul Pogba
F1 star Damson Idris has proven that he can portray supremely talented and wildly misunderstood sportspeople. The only question is who will play his arch-nemesis, Graeme Souness?
Louis Garrel As Bruno Fernandes
Much like United’s all-action captain Bruno Fernandes, Louis Garrel routinely has more than one role to play in a production. The serial director and screenwriter already has Fernandes’s rant against the club’s owners earlier this season as one monologue to go off in the writing room.
Gary Oldman As Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Gary Oldman has got the shabby-chic look nailed down. Manchester United’s divisive co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe certainly fits half that bill.
Alvaro Morté As Ruben Amorim
Money Heist star Alvaro Morté will have the best lines in any series if he lands the role of Ruben Amorim. Whether it’s requesting papal edicts or comparing his players to 63-year-old goalkeeping coaches, the scripts for the later seasons of this drama write themselves.
Jamie Dornan As Michael Carrick
It remains to be seen quite how big a role Jamie Dornan would have to play should he be cast as Michael Carrick, the manager. If the former midfielder continues to inspire such a feverish goodwill with his restoration of United’s so-called “DNA,” there is every chance Dornan will be on for a multi-series deal. Whatever the case, he’ll be guaranteed at least one Manchester derby.
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Grey Whitebloom is a writer, reporter and editor for Sports Illustrated FC. Born and raised in London, he is an avid follower of German, Italian and Spanish top flight football.