Exclusive: Neil Patrick Harris To Star In Netflix’s Uncoupled
We've exclusively learned details we can share on the next big role for Neil Patrick Harris.
This article is more than 2 years old
Neil Patrick Harris knows how to make a big comeback. The child star played Dr. Doogie Howser in the early 1990s, followed that up with years of minor but steady appearances, only to steal the show on How I Met Your Mother when he showed up as Barney Stinson in 2005. Since the sitcom went off the air, he’s starred as Count Olaf for Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events series and authored several books, but his biggest focus has been on raising his children. Now, the actor has been chosen to star in a romantic comedy for Netflix that may just become his next biggest success.
Thanks to one of our trusted and proven sources, we’ve learned that Neil Patrick Harris has been offered the starring role in Netflix’s upcoming series Uncoupled. While we haven’t been able to learn what the actor’s thinking process is on this decision and where he’s at with it, but it seems like it should be a very tempting offer for the actor. While he has spent the past couple of years mostly writing and appearing in family-friendly content, this project would be a perfect opportunity for him to jump back into a sitcom, one that his talent could make a real hit.
Uncoupled was picked up by Netflix in May 2021. The series was created by Darren Star, the mind that brought us Sex and the City. Netflix is ready for the first season with eight episodes of a half-hour each. The sitcom has been described as a romantic comedy. Neil Patrick Harris is up to star as a man in his forties who is seemingly happily married, until his husband walks out on him. Then he has two nightmares to deal with. The first nightmare is that his husband of 17 years has left him. The second nightmare is that now, he’s a single man in his forties navigating the dating scene. A statement from the show’s creators said that Uncoupled, as a romantic comedy with a gay male lead, has been a passion project from the start.
Is there a better actor than Neil Patrick Harris for a passion project like Uncoupled? The actor has a history in sitcoms. As Barney Stinson, he was often flirtatious and mischievous, but we would then see that he had a secret vulnerable side. That vulnerability is something he has played up in other roles as well, even as Billy in Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, where he played a masterful and fun villain and managed to make it feel relatable through his performance.
Clearly, whoever was in charge of casting for Uncoupled knew what they were doing. Neil Patrick Harris is an excellent choice to star in the new series for Netflix. But will the actor want to take on a project like this at this point in his life? Since becoming a father to twins, he has focused on smaller projects, writing books, and the family-friendly series A Series of Unfortunate Events. While Uncoupled only has an order for eight episodes at this point, playing the lead in the series could mean a big time commitment for the actor, especially if the series takes off. It’s entirely possible that he’s torn on this tempting offer, which seems right in his wheelhouse.
It does seem like his career is starting to rev up again though and that this may be the perfect time. Right now, we’re waiting to see him star with Nic Cage in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, a feature film where Cage plays a parody version of himself and Neil Patrick Harris plays his agent. Hopefully, he’ll accept the role, and Uncoupled will be up next.
