Benedict Cumberbatch’s New Psychological Drama Is #2 on Netflix (& OMG, That Trailer Is Wild)

I've gotten so used to seeing Benedict Cumberbatch in a flowing red cape that it's nearly impossible not to think of him as Master of the Mystic Arts. Now, however, I'm seeing the actor in a very different light, thanks to his gripping new psychological thriller on Netflix.

Allow me to introduce Eric, a twisty new series that's currently number two on Netflix's list of the top ten most-watched shows. In it, Cumberbatch plays Vincent, a bespectacled father and puppeteer who goes on an emotional downward spiral after his 9-year-old son, Edgar, mysteriously disappears in New York. Set during the '80s, the intense two-and-a-half-minute trailer teases Edgar's monster drawings, the media frenzy surrounding his disappearance and Vincent's efforts to reconnect with his son.

The most fascinating part? When Edgar's imaginary, seven-foot-tall puppet monster comes to life and calls Vincent's name.

While speaking with Netflix's Tudum about his character Vincent, Cumberbatch said, "Eric is a creation of Edgar’s, and Vincent somehow holds onto that through all the accusations of insanity, however chaotic his mind is. He holds onto that because he knows that that is the medium that connects him with his child, that it is the only possible means by which he can lure his child out of the unknown into the light again. And a man who’s been the reason his child has disappeared into an ugly, terrifying, and threatening city cannot face the idea that he [could be] dead."

The actor also describes the series as a Hansel and Gretel tale that explores themes like mental health, grief, childhood trauma and parent-child relationships. He added, "It has all the looks of a thriller, with all the psychological struggle, the real-world causality of an imploding marriage, a mental health crisis, and all the other societal elements around the central message, [which] is the redemptive power that children can offer their parents."