Neil Patrick Harris is single and ready to mingle in first look at Netflix’s Uncoupled (Netflix/Uncoupled)
The first look at Netflix’s new comedy Uncoupled shows Neil Patrick Harris as a hapless, newly-single man after being dumped by his boyfriend of 17 years.
The show – which premieres on Netflix Friday 29 July – sees Harris’ character navigate Grindr, visit gay clubs, and take his first-ever d**k pick after finding himself suddenly single in his 40s.
Uncoupled‘s official synopsis reads: “Michael Lawson (Neil Patrick Harris) seems to have it all figured out.
“He’s a successful New York City real estate agent with a great career, a supportive family, close friends, and a loving relationship with his partner of 17 years, Colin (Tuc Watkins).
“But when Colin unexpectedly moves out on the eve of his 50th birthday, Michael is completely blindsided. Overnight, he has to confront two nightmares: losing the man he thought was his soulmate, and suddenly finding himself a single gay man in his mid-forties in New York City.”
Uncoupled co-stars Tisha Campbell as Michael’s colleague and best friend, as well as Marcia Gay Harden, Emerson Brooks, and Brooks Ashmanskas.
Harris told Out magazine in an interview: “I’m so glad that I’m doing a show like this now because I was less concerned and conscientious then I probably would’ve been 10, even five years ago.
“I was glad that I wasn’t just the punch line of the joke when I was in bed with some 28-year-old hot guy.”
Uncoupled is not without controversy, however.
It was reported in 2021 that a Latina housekeeper character was cut from the script after actor Ada Maris found the portrayal to be “hurtful and derogatory”.
Maris told Variety that the character of Carmen, a housekeeper who spoke in broken English and was described as “hysterical”, was “outdated” and “offensively stereotypical”.
“I was shocked because I walked in expecting something very different given the way things are nowadays and the progress we’ve made,” she said.
“I just want [writers] to think the next time they write a character like that… I’m speaking out for the younger actors coming up so they face even less of that than my generation has.
“These media images shape our ides of ourselves. That’s why it’s really important that the portrayals be more realistic, not hurtful. We need to see ourselves more like we really are.”
Netflix has since apologised and confirmed that the character “will not appear in the series”.