Sons of Anarchy vet Charlie Hunnam rides again in Apple's Shantaram first look

Nick Romano
·2 min read

Charlie Hunnam is back on a bike, though not the kind Sons of Anarchy fans are used to seeing him ride.

The actor best known for his role as outlaw motorcycle club member Jax Teller on the FX drama can now be seen for the first time as fugitive Lin Ford in Apple's upcoming Shantaram. The streamer released the debut photo from the drama series on Monday, along with premiere intel.

Shantaram, about Lin's journeys in 1980s Bombay, will drop its first three episodes (out of 12) on Apple TV+ this Oct. 14 before moving to a weekly release through Dec. 16.

The image sees Lin on the back of a motorcycle, an echo of Hunnam's days on Sons of Anarchy, which premiered in 2008 and ran through the end of 2014.

A film version of Shantaram, the 2003 international best-selling novel from Australian author Gregory David Roberts, had been in the works for years from producer Johnny Depp, but it never came to fruition.

Shantaram Charlie Hunnam
Shantaram Charlie Hunnam

Roland Neveu/Apple TV + Charlie Hunnam plays fugitive Lin Ford in Apple TV+ drama 'Shantaram.'

There's been some debate about how much of Shantaram is autobiographical, given that the main character shares traits of Roberts' own backstory as a former heroin addict. Roberts said in 2015, "Some experiences from my life are described pretty much as they happened, and others are created narratives, informed by my experience."

The writer published a sequel to Shantaram in 2015 called The Mountain Shadow.

Apple's Shantaram follows Lin as he looks "to get lost in vibrant and chaotic 1980s Bombay," reads a plot description from the streamer. "Alone in an unfamiliar city, Lin struggles to avoid the trouble he's running from in this new place. After falling for an enigmatic and intriguing woman named Karla, Lin must choose between freedom or love and the complications that come with it."

Steve Lightfoot, who created Netflix's The Punisher series that starred Jon Bernthal, serves as the showrunner of Shantaram, which he also writes and executive produces. Lightfoot co-created the new series with Eric Warren Singer, who's also among the executive producers.

Hunnam stars in Shantaram alongside cast members Shubham Saraf, Elektra Kilbey, Fayssal Bazzi, Luke Pasqualino, Antonia Desplat, Alyy Khan, Sujaya Dasgupta, Vincent Perez, David Field, Alexander Siddig, Gabrielle Scharnitzky, Elham Ehsas, Rachel Kamath, Matthew Joseph, and Shiv Palekar.

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