Disney star Thomas Doherty is heading to the dark side after landing the role of a serial killer alongside fellow Scots actress Emma Laird.
The former teen star is taking on the lead in the sinister romance Butcher and Blackbird based on the trilogy Ruinous Love which was number one on the New York Times’ bestseller list.
And fans are speculating that the Edinburgh actor, who played the role of Captain Hook’s son in Disney film Descendants with a Scottish accent, will get to do it again as chef turned vigilante killer Rowan Kane.
An Irishman in Brynne Weaver’s novel, American readers listening to the audio book believed the character was a Scot and are now championing him to use his native tongue in the Amazon MGM studio production which starts filming in New York and Vancouver this month.
One reader said: ‘Thomas is Scottish, he should have that accent.’
Scottish Bafta nominee Laird, 28, who starred in the Oscar-winning period drama The Brutalist, will play Sloane Sutherland, an American scientist and fellow serial killer.
The deranged pair begin a flirtatious relationship by scheduling an annual murder competition targeting their fellow serial killers.
Doherty, who convinced Disney bosses to let him play Harry Hook with a Scottish brogue, has admitted to a fascination about the psychological background of real-life murderers.
Emma Laird will be joining fellow Scot Thomas Doherty in the adaptation of Brynne Weaver’s novel Butcher & Blackbird
Thomas Doherty starred in the HBO Max reboot of Gossip Girl
He joked that after playing a vampire in The Invitation, it was ‘good practice to play a serial killer’.
Laird recently appeared in BBC drama Mint which was filmed in Glasgow last year and revolves around a crime family’s inner life.
The show, which premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in January, also starred Bafta-winning actor Lewis Gribben and fellow Scot Laura Fraser, who had a major role in US smash hit Breaking Bad.
Despite her Scottish connections, Laird, who grew up in Cheshire, poked fun at her accent in the show.
She had said: ‘I was so terrible at the Scottish accent, despite my dad being Scottish.’
Laird has also starred in Mayor Of Kingstown, A Haunting In Venice, and Oscar-winning film The Brutalist.
