UNDER THE BANNER OF HEAVEN — “Rightful Place” Episode 2 (Airs Thursday, April 28th) — Pictured: ... [+] Andrew Garfield as Jeb Pyre. CR: Michelle Faye/FX
Andrew Garfield’s 2021 was the biggest year of his career and one most actors could only dream of.
The 38-year-old box office powerhouse received an Academy Award nomination for his performance in tick, tick... BOOM!, starred opposite Jessica Chastain in the well-received The Eyes of Tammy Faye — which earned Chastain an Oscar for Best Leading Actress — and he provided all the feels in his triumphant return as Peter Parker in the colossal hit Spider-Man: No Way Home.
To date, No Way Home had the third highest box office of all time, earning $804,405,733 according to Box Office Mojo. Garfield’s next project after a massive 2021 would no doubt draw a lot of attention. He settled on FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, available only on Hulu Thursday, April 28.
The original limited series, inspired by the true crime bestseller by Jon Krakauer, follows the events that led to the 1984 murder of Brenda Wright Lafferty (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and her baby daughter in a suburb in Salt Lake Valley, Utah.
Garfield plays detective Jeb Pyre, whose Mormon faith is affected by the investigation.
The role presented Andrew with an opportunity to do something unique and challenge himself after his career reached a new height.
“I'm always looking to challenge myself and keep myself on my toes and expand and not stagnate, I suppose,” Garfield told me. “Obviously those three previous projects had been very distinct and different, but they were all rather expressive.
“There was a lot of emotional expression going on. I think what was attractive to me about this character particularly was kind of a more internal expressivenesses; it's a stoic guy. He's a kind of internal Mormon police officer.
“He's not a musical theater writer, he's not an angsty superhero, and he's not a televangelist. He's a guy that's just trying to be a good man, trying to do his job, and trying to be as ordinary as possible and not rock the boat.
“And I found that to be quite compelling actually in contrast. But outside of that, it was really the story itself that attracted me and the themes it deals with and the creative people that were attached to making it.”
Under The Banner of Heaven has a limited run of seven episodes. The show also stars Sam Worthington, Denise Gough, Wyatt Russell, Billy Howle, Gil Birmingham, Adelaide Clemens, Rory Culkin, Seth Numrich, Chloe Pirrie and Sandra Seacat.
The series was created by Academy Award winner Dustin Lance Black, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer. The other executive producers are Brian Grazer, Ron Howard and Anna Culp for Imagine Television; Jason Bateman and Michael Costigan of Aggregate Films; David Mackenzie and Gillian Berrie. Under the Banner of Heaven is produced by FX Productions.