Alexander Siddig Joins Charlie Hunnam in AppleTV’s “Shantaram”

Alexander Siddig will co-star with Charlie Hunnam in Apple TV’s 12-part series Shantaram*, based on the best-selling novel by Gregory David Roberts. Deadline broke the casting news today.

The story follows Lin (Hunnam), a man on the run from an Australian prison who looks to get lost in the teeming city of Bombay. Cut off from family and friends by distance and fate, he finds a new life in the slums, bars, and underworld of India. Sid plays Khader Khan, the revered kingpin of Bombay’s underworld who acts as a surrogate father to Lin.

Shantaram originally began production in January 2020 but illness and bad weather slowed the project down. A planned production halt in February 2020 – to accommodate monsoon season – became a year-plus pause due to the coronavirus pandemic. With virus safety protocols making it possible for productions to start up again, Shantaram is due to resume filming in May in Melbourne, Australia, and will film in Thailand (standing in for India where COVID cases are surging) in July. Production is expected to last through the end of the year.

Released in 2004, the novel* has been published in 39 languages in 42 territories worldwide and sold more than 6 million copies.

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What does this mean for the Sid City Social Club? The current iteration will wrap up in May but this isn’t the end! We’re planning bi-monthly meetings and extracurricular activities to continue the connections and friendships we’ve built over the past year. More info to come!

Updated 04.12.21: Added the filming location now that the Sydney Morning Herald made it public.

Updated 05.14.21: Added information about filming in Thailand in July via Variety. The April 12 version of this post did state that the project would film in Thailand but not when the production would move there.