‘An elite decision’: Top Boy fans react to Barry Keoghan’s surprise role as Irish gangster on Netflix series

Keoghan plays brutal Irish gangster Jonny in the Netflix drama

Fans of Netflix’s hit crime drama Top Boy were surprised to see the familiar face of Irish actor Barry Keoghan in the show’s fifth and final series.

The Banshees of Inisherin star plays an Irish gangster named Jonny, who takes over as Kano’s lead character Sully’s main drug supplier.

*Warning – Major spoilers ahead for Top Boy season five*

Acting alongside fellow Irish star Brian Gleeson, Keoghan’s character commits brutal acts of violence to force Sully’s compliance, killing one of his Summerhouse soldiers.

Sully and Dushane (Ashley Walters) later ambush Jonny, executing him at the retirement home of his great uncle (who is the leader of the Irish gang).

On X/Twitter, fans expressed their shock at seeing the Oscar-nominated star in the series.

“You say Barry Keoghan is in the new season of Top Boy? I guess I am finally going to watch the series,” one person wrote.

“Barry Keoghan in the new series of Top Boy is an elite decision,” wrote another.

“Barry Keoghan is some serious talent to bring in for this new Top Boy season,” a third impressed fan wrote.

Top Boy is set in a fictional estate in Hackney, east London, and follows gang kingpins Dushane and Sully as they ruthlessly strive to become the dominant local “top boys”.

The show first aired on Channel 4 in 2011, with a second run of episodes airing in 2013. However, after the show was cancelled, it was revived by Netflix in 2019 following interest from rapper Drake, who serves as an executive producer on the streaming service’s version of the show.

The fifth and final season of Top Boy sees Keoghan and Gleeson join the show alongside returning cast members, including rapper Little Simz.

In his three-star review of Top Boy season five, Nick Hilton wrote: “Top Boy takes itself seriously, but, in the end, it was never The Wire.

“... This concluding chapter of the Top Boy saga pulls none of its punches – if anything it makes too many of them, like a rabbit-punching flyweight – and demonstrates that a big American streamer can be trusted to tell Black, British stories. Perhaps more so than our domestic broadcasters.”

Keoghan next stars in Emerald Fennell’s raucous new film, Saltburn, which is already dividing critics.

Top Boy season five is on Netflix now.