Charlie Hunnam Starred in This Forgotten Comedy Series Before Sons of Anarchy

0Charlie Hunnam is an English actor best known for Сыновья Анархии, playing the complex and broken Jax Teller. Before Hunnam donned his leather SAMCRO vest, he first gained recognition as the title character in Douglas McGrath’s Nicholas Nickelby, based on the Charles Dickens novel of the same name. Hunnam starred in several other notable projects, like Азиатско-Тихоокеанского региона и Король Артур: Легенда Меча.

Back in 2001—before his dramatic work—Charlie Hunnam had a regular role in the Judd Apatow comedy series Необъявленный. Необъявленный followed a group of college first-year students living in the same dorm at a fictional college in Northern California. A fresh-faced, twenty-one-year-old Charlie Hunnam played Lloyd, a theater student and ladies’ man.

Undeclared Is Hilariously Awkward

Следующий Фрики и гики, Judd Apatow looked for his next idea for television. He wanted to bring as many as he could of the cult classic’s cast and crew with him into the new project, so he asked himself what he could write for these people next. The answer was easy: college. Необъявленный chronicles the exploits of six students attending the University of Northeastern California. They try to figure out who they are, redefine themselves, and explore their new freedoms as they embark on the next chapter of their lives.

Jay Baruchel starred as Steven Karp, a gangly and awkward student looking to reinvent himself at college. He shares a dorm room with Lloyd, Ron (Seth Rogen), and Marshall (Timm Sharp). The four bond immediately when they host a floor party, inviting the effervescent Lizzie (Carla Gallo) and the anxiety-prone Rachel (Monica Keena). The half-hour comedy has many of the same themes and style of humor as its unofficial predecessor, Фрики и гики. It’s hilariously cringe-inducing and, despite some of the outlandish hijinks, honest and relatable.

Необъявленный was unceremoniously canceled after eighteen episodes by Fox—the network notorious for canceling quality programming before ever really giving it a chance to find its audience. As they did with more than one prematurely canceled series, Fox didn’t do the show any favors. They aired episodes out of order, creating a confusing timeline of events, and tried to meddle in the format and casting. Judd Apatow described working in network TV as «creativity with a gun to your head» when he appeared on Variety’s podcast. The first episode premiered two weeks after the world was shaken to its core, on September 11th. When discussing the timing of the show’s premiere at the 2011 Paley Festival, Apatow said, «We felt embarrassed to even be making some stupid-ass show.» The show has since gained a cult following, especially after IFC acquired it in 2010.

Charlie Hunnam Doesn’t Enjoy Doing Comedy

Lloyd Haythe was a fairly typical ladies’ man on Необъявленный. He was attractive and British, with a revolving door of women. Since Lloyd was a theater major, he was a bit more empathetic and intuitive than the other boys. In the first episode, Steven’s dad—Hal—crashes their floor party to tell Steven that he and his mother are getting divorced. Hal then proceeds to get drunk with Ron. Lloyd joins them as Hal complains that his wife said she feels dead inside and offers some insightful advice to Hal on his marriage, exhibiting a little more emotional maturity and depth than the average womanizer. There is one episode where he attempts to have a proper relationship with one of the women, but she turns out to be erratic and passive-aggressive, so it doesn’t last long.

[Comedy is] a whole different skill set that I neither enjoy nor feel compelled to do more of because I’ve worked with comedy people, and those motherf*ckers are seriously funny. You step in with the Seth Rogens of the world, you better have some jokes.

While Charlie Hunnam was great on the show, he didn’t have that much to do. Lloyd was often a cohort, supporting Steven’s character—giving him advice on dating. After Steven hooks up with Lizzie and thinks it means they’re dating, Lloyd gives him a reality check, saying, «You don’t have a girlfriend, Steven. You slept with a girl—big difference.» Lloyd then advises Steven to ask Lizzie out as soon as possible, lest she forget about the dalliance entirely. Sometimes, Lloyd had storylines that allowed for some character growth, like in Kevin Hart’s episode. Lloyd takes a philosophy class and has an existential crisis. He starts to believe that life is ultimately meaningless until he rediscovers the beauty of art and creativity upon hearing a violinist practicing her music.

Despite Charlie Hunnam managing to hold his own among quite a few comedy heavyweights, comedy isn’t something that Hunnam enjoys. In an interview with Men’s Health, Hunnam said, “[Comedy is] a whole different skill set that I neither enjoy nor feel compelled to do more of because I’ve worked with comedy people, and those motherf*ckers are seriously funny. You step in with the Seth Rogens of the world, you better have some jokes.” Hunnam’s disinterest in comedy is probably one of the reasons he turned down the part that was written specifically for him—Aldus Snow—in Jason Segel’s Забыть Сару Маршалл.

Undeclared Had Several Notable Guest Stars

When watching the first episode of Необъявленный, several familiar faces pop up. Теория Большого Взрыва‘s Simon Helberg is one of the first faces audiences see as Steven’s high school best friend, listening to the nineteen-year-old Jay Burachel talk about how he’s going to be a new man in college. Офис‘s Jenna Fisher appears as a sorority girl uninterested in attending their floor party. She tells them she’s a senior and not going to a first-year students’ floor party. Fisher makes a second appearance as one of Lloyd’s hook-ups in episode five, «Sick in the Head.» Smallville‘s Tom Welling is another invitee to the party—cleverly named Tom—but he’s delighted at the prospect when Steven tells him about it. Ron has to pull Steven aside and tell him he’s not supposed to invite good-looking guys and that Tom will take all their women. «Prototype» also has cameos by Lizzie Caplan and Alex Breckenridge.

As the show progresses, even more stars in the making appear on the show. Amy Poehler plays the Head R.A. for the dorm, Hilary. She flirts with Lloyd and hooks up with Steven’s dad at one point. Before Kevin Hart was Kevin Hart, he was Luke, a religious student who wanted to «set Steven up» with Jesus in the episode «God Visits.» Felicia Day also makes a cameo as Sheila, the never-before-seen suite-mate to Lizzie and Rachel in the same episode; it’s implied that she and Lloyd knew each other in the biblical sense, though. Adam Sandler guest stars as himself in «The Assistant.» Will Farrell makes an appearance as Dave, a local guy who sells tests and papers to the college kids. Ben Stiller is in the last episode of the series, playing an ex of Eric’s (Jason Segel) mother.

Charlie Hunnam Had Other Diverse Early Roles

После Необъявленный, Charlie Hunnam had the lead role in Николаса Никльби. He plays a young honorable man, trying to take care of his sister and friends after the death of his father. When they go to his uncle for help, the uncle only wants to separate and exploit them for his own purposes. He despises Nicholas for being inherently good and kind when he has grown angry and bitter. The film also starred Jaime Bell, Romola Garai, and Christopher Plummer as Nicholas’s evil Uncle Ralph.

Hunnam did a complete 180 from Nicholas Nickelby with his supporting role in Холодная гора. The movie starred Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, and Renee Zellweger. Law was a wounded Confederate soldier trying to make his way back home to the woman he loves, Ada. Ada is back home on her family farm, trying to keep it going with the help of a drifter. Hunnam played a psychopathic member of a gang hunting down and killing deserters from the American Civil War. There is a particularly gruesome scene where they ride up a farm near Ada’s. Hunnam flips backward out of his saddle and off his horse to help torture and kill the couple that owns the farm.

In Хулиганы зеленой улицы, Hunnam stars opposite Elijah Wood. He plays a violent hooligan who pulls Wood’s character into the dark underbelly of football and fights as a member of the Green Street Elite. A couple of years later, Hunnam played a member of the Fishes, a rebel group fighting for immigrant rights in a dystopian future where humanity is sterile and facing extinction in Дитя человеческое. The darker and more violent roles no doubt prepared him to play Jax on FX’s Сыновья Анархии just a couple of years later.