Home TV News Hugh Laurie Joins George Clooney’s Limited Series Adaptation Of ‘Catch-22’

Hugh Laurie Joins George Clooney’s Limited Series Adaptation Of ‘Catch-22’

by Dave Elliott
Hugh Laurie Joins George Clooney's Limited Series Adaptation Of 'Catch-22'

Hugh Laurie Joins George Clooney’s Limited Series Adaptation Of ‘Catch-22’

George Clooney’s limited series adaptation of Catch-22 for US streaming service Hulu has just added another big name, Hugh Laurie.

Based on Joseph Heller’s seminal novel of the same name, ‘Catch-22’ is the story of the incomparable, artful dodger, Yossarian (Christopher Abbott – ‘Girls’, ‘The Sinner’), a US Air Force bombardier in World War II who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy, but rather his own army which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to avoid his military assignments, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule which specifies that a concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers which are real and immediate is the process of a rational mind; a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but a request to be removed from duty is evidence of sanity and therefore makes him ineligible to be relieved from duty.

Laurie is set to play Major de Coverley, who is a squadron executive officer at Pianosa air base. He’s described as “a noble, leonine presence, like some Civil War general, who dances to the beat of his own drum. Regarded with awe by the men. He spends his time pitching horseshoes, listening to jazz on his phonograph, mixing himself martinis, and hiring apartments for the officers in every new city the Americans take.”

Clooney will direct the six-episode series along with playing the role of Colonel Cathcart, group commander at Pianosa air base. Obsessed with making the rank of General, he will do whatever it takes to please his superiors, including pushing the men to complete way more missions than normal to complete a tour of duty.

Catch-22is being developed for Hulu in the US. There’s currently no news on a UK pickup, but we’ll let you know when we hear something.

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