Netflix Show produced by the Obamas to be filmed in West Cork 

Young Offenders star Chris Walley is part of the cast of a new “darkly comedic” Netflix series which is set to start production in Cork next week.

Barack and Michelle Obama are among the executive producers for the series ‘Bodkin’, which will be filmed in Union Hall and areas outside Glandore in West Cork, as well as locations in Dublin and Wicklow.

‘Bodkin’ is a seven episode series that follows a motley crew of podcasters, who set out to investigate the mysterious disappearance of three strangers in an idyllic, coastal Irish town.

However, once they start pulling at threads, they “discover a story much bigger and weirder than they could have ever imagined”.

Also starring Will Forte, Robyn Cara, Siobhan Cullen and David Wilmot, the story leaves its characters struggling to discern fact from fiction, and the series “challenges our perception of truth and exposes the stories we tell ourselves to justify our beliefs or validate our fears”.

Saturday Night Live’s Will Forte plays Gilbert, a charming American podcaster on the hunt for his next big story, in the Cork town where he holds Irish family roots.

Chris Walley takes on the role of Bodkin village local Sean O’Shea, who has found himself wrapped up in some “pretty shady business”.

Dove, played by Siobhan Cullen, is a hard-nosed investigative journalist from Dublin, who is brave and brilliant but unfortunately also in the middle of the biggest professional crisis of her career.

Robyn Cara takes on the role of eager to please Emmy, a researcher helping Gilbert organize this podcast ‘to a T', while David Wilmot plays the “mercurial and mysterious” Seamus Gallagher.

Created by Jez Scharf, and directed by Nash Edgerton, the series is being produced by Netflix, Higher Ground Productions, and independent wiip studio – and is their first drama series to be filmed in Ireland.

Higher Ground is owned by the Obamas. Other executive producers are Jez Sharf, Alex Metcalf, David Flynn (wiip), Paul Lee (wiip), Tonia Davis, and Nne Ebong.

“We are ecstatic to partner with wiip for this wickedly wry thriller which questions truth, narrative, and the very purpose of each,” said Higher Ground Head of Film and Television, Tonia Davis.

“This entire creative team - Jez, Alex, Nash, and the phenomenal cast led by Will Forte and Siobhan Cullen - will bring to life something very special and we can’t wait to share it with audiences around the world,” she added.