EXCLUSIVE: Coming off their characters’ antagonist relationship on Prime Video’s The Boys, Chace Crawford and P.J. Byrne are set to play brothers on a new series, which is in development at the Amazon streamer, Deadline has learned. The project, titled We Once Were Men, is written by Matt Berns, who has worked on both The Boys and its upcoming prequel Vought Rising. It comes from former Amazon MGM Studios head Jennifer Salke who joined the studio shortly after The Boys had been greenlighted and oversaw its franchise expansion.
The logline for We Once Were Men is being kept under wraps. I hear it is being described as a satirical black comedy about male identity in collapse. Byrne and Chace will play brothers amongst a group of men seeking to rediscover their purpose at the radical Reclaim Retreat that promises the transformation of the modern man.
Crawford and Byrne executive produce alongside Salke, Matt Milam and Rae Bussola for Salke’s Sullivan Street Productions, Alex Dunlap (The Boys) and Charleston Chambers. The project falls under Sullivan Street’s first-look deal with Amazon MGM Studios.
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A rep for the studio declined comment.
Crawford and Byrne first starred together on the 2017 thriller movie Eloise. Years later, they reunited on The Boys. Crawford starred as Kevin Kohler/The Deep for its five-season run while Byrne recurred as director Adam Bourke. The Deep had a long-standing grudge against Bourke which culminated in Supe brutally killing the Dawn of the Seven helmer in the recently concluded final season.
Gossip Girl alum Crawford, who will next be seen in the Searchlight Pictures movie Super Troopers 3, is repped by CAA and Untitled Entertainment.
Byrne, who is a series regular on USA Network’s The Rainmaker, based on the John Grisham novel, is repped by Atrium Talent and Untitled Entertainment.
Berns, Dunlap and Chambers recently worked together on Berns’ feature debut Charmers, which the three wrote and produced and Berns directed. The film is currently in post-production. Berns was a staff writer on the upcoming first season of Vought Rising. Before that, he worked on the mothership The Boys, starting as an an assistant. Berns wrote much of the series’ social media content including the Audible Original The Boys: Deeper and Deeper. He is repped by WME and Jackoway Austen Tyerman et al.
Amazon MGM Studios recently acquired Sam Lansky’s psychosexual short story Good Bones for Salke’s Sullivan Street to develop as a TV series. The company also recently acquired Kirsty Greenwood’s upcoming novel Romantic Hero, which will be adapted as a movie by Peter Chiarelli.
Production just wrapped on Amazon MGM Studios’ film Honeymoon with Harry, starring Kevin Costner, Jake Gyllenhaal and Sarah Pidgeon, which Salke is producing. She also is a producer on Red, White & Royal Wedding, the sequel to hit Red, White & Royal Blue, which she had commissioned in her studio role.