Netflix Expands ‘Top Boy’ With Barry Keoghan Prequel ‘Jonny Boy’ and Jasmine Jobson’s ‘Jaq’

Two new Top Boy spinoffs are officially heading to Netflix, reopening the British crime drama’s world nearly three years after its final season. Netflix announced on August 26 that Barry Keoghan will reprise Jonny McGee in the five-episode prequel Jonny Boy, while Jasmine Jobson will return as Jacqueline “Jaq” Lawrence in a separate six-episode series currently titled Jaq.

Both projects were unveiled during Netflix’s Spotlight session at the Edinburgh TV Festival and are scheduled to begin filming in 2027. The streamer’s official announcement of the two Top Boy series confirms that original creator Ronan Bennett remains involved with both, while each project will have a different creative team and narrative direction.

The Top Boy spinoffs move in two different directions

Jonny Boy will look backward. Keoghan’s Jonny appeared in the final Netflix season as a dangerous member of an Irish criminal organization, but the five-episode prequel will explore the character before the events audiences have already seen.

Bennett will write the series, while Ali Abbasi is set to direct. Keoghan will also executive produce alongside Des Byrne through Wolfcub Productions, the company the pair founded together.

Netflix says Wolfcub pitched the project to the streamer and the existing Top Boy executive producers. The company’s description frames the series as an origin story intended to explore Jonny through a different lens rather than simply extending his appearances from the original show.

Variety independently confirmed Netflix’s orders, including Keoghan’s return for the prequel and the separate Jaq-centered project.

Jasmine Jobson will continue Jaq’s story beyond Summerhouse

The second series moves in the opposite direction. Rather than revisiting an established character’s past, Jaq will continue Jacqueline’s story beyond Summerhouse.

Jobson returns to a role that earned her the BAFTA TV Award for supporting actress. Netflix has ordered six episodes, with Ryan Calais Cameron creating and writing the series. Cameron and Jobson will both serve as executive producers.

The streamer is intentionally keeping the new story’s detailed plot under wraps. That is significant because Jaq’s final stretch in Top Boy left her at a major turning point after she attempted to move away from the drug trade and protect her family.

The new project can therefore continue a surviving character’s story without reversing the original series finale or simply restarting the conflict between Dushane and Sully. Netflix’s official Top Boy series page continues to carry the three Netflix seasons, providing the narrative foundation for Jaq’s return.

Barry Keoghan is also producing Jonny Boy

Keoghan’s role behind the camera makes Jonny Boy more than another returning-character assignment. He and Byrne describe the prequel as a project they actively pitched, with Wolfcub Productions developing its approach to Jonny’s earlier life.

The series also reconnects Keoghan with a character he played only during the final season of the Netflix revival. That relatively limited screen history leaves Bennett and Abbasi room to build out Jonny’s background without having to reproduce several seasons of established biography.

The Hollywood Reporter reported the five-episode Jonny Boy order and Keoghan’s producing role following the Edinburgh announcement.

Abbasi’s involvement adds another notable creative element. His directing credits include Holy Spider and The Apprentice, while Bennett’s return preserves a direct connection to the writer who created the original Top Boy.

Drake remains involved in the Top Boy universe

The expansion also retains several producers who helped bring Top Boy back after its original Channel 4 run ended. Aubrey “Drake” Graham will executive produce both new projects, along with Adel “Future” Nur for DreamCrew Entertainment.

Bennett executive produces both through Easter Partisan Films, with Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind representing Cowboy Films. Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson of SpringHill Studios are also executive producers across both series.

Drake’s involvement carries historical significance for the franchise. After becoming a fan of the original British series, he helped champion its return, eventually joining the Netflix revival as an executive producer.

Deadline’s report on Keoghan’s return independently corroborates the new prequel and Netflix’s decision to revisit the franchise.

Both new series will begin filming in 2027

Netflix has not announced release dates for either project. The confirmed production timetable currently goes only as far as 2027, when both series are expected to begin filming.

That means the August announcement is a greenlight rather than an imminent premiere campaign. Cast additions beyond Keoghan and Jobson, specific filming dates and the full storylines remain to be announced.

What is already clear is that Netflix is not attempting a straightforward sixth season of Top Boy. Instead, the streamer is branching the franchise in two directions: one project digging into the origins of a late-arriving antagonist and another following one of the original show’s most important surviving characters into a new chapter.

For a drama that appeared to have closed its story in 2023, Jonny Boy and Jaq establish that Summerhouse may have reached its finale, but Netflix is not finished with the world around it.