Owen Cooper returns to TV in Film Club after historic Emmy win

Owen Cooper is returning to television in his first role since making history at the Emmy Awards, where he became the youngest-ever male winner for Best Supporting Actor for his performance as Jamie Miller in Adolescence. The 15-year-old actor is back on the small screen in the BBC series Film Club, a drama headlined by The White Lotus star Aimee Lou Wood.

Film Club centers on Evie, an agoraphobic teenager who has not left her house in six months. Each week she hosts a film club with her friend Noa, and she and Noa deck out her mother's garage to suit whatever movie they’re watching. In the newest chapter, Evie faces a turning point as Noa is offered a job that could pull him away to the other side of the country, testing the boundaries of their friendship and Evie’s autonomy.

Owen Cooper plays Callum, Evie’s neighbor, and is part of the ensemble that includes Suranne Jones as Evie’s mother. In promotional images from the series, Cooper is seen on a bike alongside another boy, underscoring the show’s focus on adolescence, social dynamics, and the small-scale dramas that unfold within a close-knit community. The program also features Aimee Lou Wood opposite Suranne Jones, bringing a layered performance dynamic to the mother-daughter relationship at the heart of Evie’s world. All episodes of Film Club will be released on BBC iPlayer, with the first two episodes slated to air on BBC Three on October 7. The following night, those two episodes will be repeated on BBC One, continuing the show’s rollout on traditional television.

Cooper’s Emmys moment remains a touchstone of his career to date. He received a standing ovation as he accepted the Best Supporting Actor award for Adolescence, a ceremony during which Sydney Sweeney presented the prize and offered him a hug. In his remarks, Cooper credited the people behind the camera and his fellow cast members, saying that his success really belonged to the team that supported him along the way. He noted that his path to the United States was unlikely a few years earlier, and emphasized the importance of listening, focusing, and stepping out of one’s comfort zone to achieve one’s goals. He also revealed that he took a week off school to travel to Los Angeles for the Emmys, with his parents Andy and Noreen and his two brothers accompanying him.

Adolescence has been a global talking point since its debut, attracting tens of millions of views per month and becoming a go-to title for discussions among parents and teenagers about online culture and radicalization. The series won several awards on Emmy night, including Best Limited Series, which expanded its overall tally to eight wins. Stephen Graham secured acting and writing awards for his work on the show, with Jack Thorne sharing in the writing honor. Erin Doherty won Best Supporting Actress, and director Philip Barantini took home a directing prize. In addition to those wins, the show carried two additional nominations in cinematography and casting, underscoring the breadth of its production achievements.

The Film Club project places Cooper in a supporting role alongside Wood and Jones as the drama explores the emotional weather of adolescence through intimate, character-driven storytelling. The premise juxtaposes Evie’s social withdrawal with the communal, almost ritual act of gathering for cinema, as the garage becomes a portable cinema and a space for connection in a moment when personal worlds increasingly collide with external pressures. The show’s format—combining a teen-led, film-obsessed setting with a coming-of-age arc—has drawn comparisons to a contemporary take on indie school-dramas, though Film Club situates its stakes within a modern family dynamic and a neighborhood sense of belonging.

For viewers following Cooper’s career, Film Club offers a peak at a young performer expanding beyond the breakthrough role that brought him international attention. The BBC’s release plan—rolling out two episodes on BBC Three with subsequent repeats on BBC One—aims to reach a broad audience while preserving the intimate tone of the series. As Cooper’s star continues to rise, Film Club will be watched not only as a new series but as a barometer of the paths available to a young actor who has already navigated a remarkable trajectory from youth-stage work to one of television’s most watched moments in recent memory.