Barry is an American dark comedy–crime television series created by Alec Berg and Bill Hader that premiered on HBO on March 25, 2018. Hader stars as Barry Berkman, a hitman from Cleveland who travels to Los Angeles to kill someone but finds himself joining an acting class taught by Gene Cousineau, where he meets aspiring actress Sally Reed and begins to question his path in life as he deals with his criminal associates such as Monroe Fuches and NoHo Hank. The second season premiered on March 31, 2019. In April 2019, HBO renewed the series for a third season. Barry has received critical acclaim, with most praise going to its writing, humor, characters, and performances, and received various accolades, including 30 Primetime Emmy Award nominations; Hader won Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series twice, while Winkler won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his performance in the first season. For the second season, Winkler, Root and Carrigan all received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor, while Goldberg received a nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Premise
Barry follows Barry Berkman, a former Marine from Cleveland who works as a hitman. Lonely and dissatisfied with life, he travels to Los Angeles to kill a target and ends up "finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the L.A. theater scene".
Cast and characters
Main
Bill Hader as Barry Berkman/Barry Block, a Marine turned hitman who finds himself drawn towards human connection among a community of aspiring actors. Barry longs to put his criminal history behind him to become a full-time performer, but can't seem to stop his bloody past from creeping into the new life he tries to build for himself.
Stephen Root as Monroe Fuches, an old family friend of Barry's who groomed him for a career as a hitman after Barry left the Marines. Fuches is cowardly and self-centered, often dragging Barry back into a life of crime to serve his own personal interest, be it money, power, or revenge.
Sarah Goldberg as Sally Reed, an aspiring actress in Barry's acting class who also serves as his primary love interest. Sally is focused on becoming a famous actress.
Glenn Fleshler as Goran Pazar, the leader of the Chechen mafia who employs Barry to take out a man who has been sleeping with his wife.
Anthony Carrigan as NoHo Hank, an effusively positive and naive member of the Chechen mafia and Goran's right-hand man. He later becomes the leader of the Chechen mafia himself, but struggles with the responsibility of running an organized crime ring when he is not an inherently violent person.
Henry Winkler as Gene Cousineau, an acting coach and Barry's mentor. Cousineau serves as a father figure to Barry, helping him come to terms with some of the atrocities he has committed throughout his life. However, Cousineau is also incredibly self-obsessed, and rarely seems to help out his students unless there is something of value in it for him.
Recurring
Paula Newsome as Detective Janice Moss, a police officer investigating the murder of Ryan Madison and Cousineau's love interest
Michael Irby as Cristobal Sifuentes, the leader of the Bolivian mafia
Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Sasha Baxter, a British actress in Cousineau's acting class
D'Arcy Carden as Natalie Greer, an actress and Sally's friend. Natalie often serves as Cousineau's personal assistant during acting class.
Darrell Britt-Gibson as Jermaine Jefrint, an actor in Cousineau's acting class who is one of Barry's roommates
Andy Carey as Eric, an actor in Cousineau's class with a proclivity for slam poetry and rap, neither of which he has any talent for
Alejandro Furth as Antonio Manuel, a Puerto Rican actor in Cousineau's class
John Pirruccello as Detective John Loach, Moss's perpetually depressed partner who later finds himself investigating Barry
Rightor Doyle as Nick Nicholby, a flamboyantly gay actor in Cousineau's class who is one of Barry's roommates
On January 11, 2016, it was reported that HBO had given the production a pilot order, to be directed by Bill Hader who would also co-write and executive produce alongside Alec Berg. On June 2, 2016, it was reported that HBO had given the production a series order. On April 12, 2018, HBO renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on March 31, 2019. On April 10, 2019, HBO renewed the series for a third season.
Casting
Alongside the report of the pilot order, it was confirmed that Hader would star in the pilot. In February 2016, it was reported that Sarah Goldberg, Glenn Fleshler, Anthony Carrigan, Henry Winkler, and Stephen Root had been cast in lead roles in the series' pilot.
Filming
Principal photography for the first season began in 2017 in Los Angeles. Production on the third season was shut down on March 18, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, before a single episode had been shot. The cast had already gathered for table reads for the first two episodes when they were informed.
Release
Marketing
On December 4, 2017, HBO released the first teaser trailer for the series. On January 9, 2018, HBO released the first official trailer for the series.
Premiere
On March 21, 2018, the series held its official premiere at NeueHouse Hollywood in Los Angeles, California. On April 28, 2018, episodes one through three were screened during the Series Mania Festival at the Le Majestic cinema in Lille, France. It appeared alongside seven other television programs in the festival's "Best of USA" series of shows.
Reception
Critical response
Season 1
The first season of Barry received critical acclaim. On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 98% "certified fresh" rating with an average rating of 8.09/10, based on 81 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "PTSD and comedy make strangely endearing bedfellows in Barry, which proves more poignant than its sketch show premise." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the season a score of 83 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Season 2
The second season received critical acclaim. On Rotten Tomatoes, the season holds a 100% "certified fresh" rating with an average rating of 8.65/10, based on 41 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Barry follows up a pitch-perfect debut with a second season that balances darkness with comedy while steering clear of antihero overindulgence." On Metacritic, the season has a score 87 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
