Netflix Is Expanding the Top Boy Universe With Two New Series — Jasmine Jobson’s Jaq Returns While Barry Keoghan Gets an Origin Story

Nearly three years after Top Boy brought the stories of Dushane and Sully to a devastating conclusion, Netflix is heading back into the world of Summerhouse — and this time, it is expanding the franchise in two different directions.

The streamer has officially ordered two new series: Jaq, a six-episode continuation centered on Jasmine Jobson’s fan-favorite character, and Jonny Boy, a five-part prequel bringing Barry Keoghan back as Irish gangster Jonny McGee.

Both projects were announced during Netflix’s Spotlight presentation at the Edinburgh TV Festival on August 26, with production scheduled to begin in 2027. Release dates have not yet been announced.

Jasmine Jobson Returns as Jaq

Currently operating under the working title Jaq, the six-part series will follow Jacqueline “Jaq” Lawrence beyond the events of Top Boy and Summerhouse.

Jasmine Jobson will reprise the role that earned her the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2024. The new series is being created and written by playwright Ryan Calais Cameron, with both Cameron and Jobson also serving as executive producers.

Netflix has not yet revealed exactly where Jaq’s story will go.

When viewers last saw her, however, she had endured an increasingly dangerous final chapter. After stealing 25 kilos of drugs from Sully’s stash, Jaq attempted to return them. Her final moments found her lying beside her concerned girlfriend Becks, played by Adwoa Aboah, and reassuring her that everything would be okay.

That ending left the character alive and looking toward a different future — while also leaving plenty of unanswered questions about what life beyond Summerhouse could mean for her.

Filming on Jaq is expected to begin in 2027.

Barry Keoghan Is Getting His Own Top Boy Prequel

The second project takes viewers in the opposite direction.

Rather than continuing the story beyond the Top Boy finale, Jonny Boy will travel into the past to explore the origins of Jonny McGee, the ruthless Irish gangster played by Barry Keoghan.

Keoghan joined Top Boy during its third and final Netflix season, appearing alongside Brian Gleeson, who played Jonny’s uncle Tadgh. Although Jonny’s time in the original series was relatively brief, his violent presence made him one of the final season’s most memorable antagonists.

The five-episode prequel will explore how Jonny became the man viewers eventually encountered in Top Boy, long before his conflict with Sully.

Original series creator Ronan Bennett is writing Jonny Boy, while filmmaker Ali Abbasi, whose credits include Holy Spider and Border, will direct.

Barry Keoghan Calls Jonny Boy a “Passion Project”

Keoghan is also deeply involved behind the camera through Wolfcub Productions, the company he founded with Des Byrne.

In announcing the project, Keoghan and Byrne said they had taken their idea for Jonny McGee’s origin story to Netflix and the Top Boy executive producers.

They described Jonny Boy as a “passion project” designed to explore the character’s beginnings through what they called a “new bold lens.”

Keoghan and Abbasi will executive produce alongside Byrne for Wolfcub Productions.

Like Jaq, production on Jonny Boy is due to begin sometime in 2027, meaning viewers will have to wait a little longer before returning to this world.

Drake Remains Part of the Expanded Top Boy Universe

The expansion also maintains an important connection to the Netflix era of Top Boy: Drake remains involved.

The rapper was instrumental in helping revive the series after its original Channel 4 run ended. Top Boy: Summerhouse initially aired for two series in 2011 and 2013 before being cancelled.

Drake later became an outspoken fan of the drama and helped champion its return. Netflix ultimately revived Top Boy in 2019, with Ashley Walters and Kane “Kano” Robinson returning as Dushane and Sully. Drake joined the revived series as an executive producer.

He will continue in that role for the franchise’s next chapters.

Original creator Ronan Bennett will executive produce both new series through Easter Partisan Films. Charles Steel and Alasdair Flind are executive producing for Cowboy Films, with Adel “Future” Nur representing DreamCrew Entertainment. Maverick Carter and Jamal Henderson of SpringHill Studios, a Fulwell Entertainment label, are also among the executive producers.

Top Boy Is Returning — Just Not in the Way Fans Might Have Expected

The announcement means Netflix is not simply attempting to recreate the Dushane-and-Sully story that drove much of the original drama.

Instead, the franchise is branching out in two directions.

Jaq will move the timeline forward, exploring what happens to one of Summerhouse’s most compelling survivors after the original story. Jonny Boy, meanwhile, will look backward and reveal more about a dangerous character whose life was only briefly explored in the main series.

For fans who thought the 2023 finale marked the definitive end of Top Boy, Netflix’s latest announcement makes one thing clear: the story of Summerhouse may have reached its conclusion, but the wider world surrounding it still has more stories to tell.

Both Jaq and Jonny Boy are scheduled to begin filming in 2027. Netflix has not announced release dates for either series. All five seasons across Top Boy: Summerhouse and Netflix’s Top Boy are currently available to stream.