In 2009, Ben Barnes played the ageless title character in Dorian Gray and it seems like he took that role too seriously because in all the years we have seen him onscreen, this man never seems to age.
He returns to television today in the new Netflix series Shadow and Bone, where he plays General Kirigan/The Darkling. His character is General of the Second Army and the soldiers have powers to use against the First Army made of humans. He appears in all eight episodes of the first season.
We are pumped for the show! Not only does it have fantasy elements, but is already getting high praise for its diversity and inclusiveness.
Barnes has had quite the career since his professional debut in 2006 when he starred in an episode of the British soap opera Doctors. The same year, he made his West End debut in The History Boys as Dakin, a role made famous by Dominic Cooper. And then he made his film debut the following year in Stardust, which costarred Claire Danes, Robert De Niro and Michelle Pfeiffer.
However, his big claim to fame was when he joined the second film based on a classic C.S. Lewis series as the title character in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. The film received positive reviews and became the 10th-highest-grossing film worldwide in 2008. Barnes, with his flowing hair and charming smile, instantly became a heartthrob and everyone’s new Prince Charming.
Over the next eight years, Barnes starred in a number of films like true story Killing Bono with Robert Sheehan and Krysten Ritter, the ensemble comedy The Big Wedding with Amanda Seyfried, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams and fantasy film Seventh Son with Jeff Bridges, Julianne Moore and Kit Harington.
Though in recent years, Barnes has returned to television with a main roles in HBO’s Westworld, where he played Logan Delos who invests in the theme park, and Netflix’s Marvel series The Punisher, where he played Frank Castle’s (Jon Bernthal) best friend Billy Russo who later becomes supervillain Jigsaw.
Looking at Barnes in 2008 – a whole 13 years ago – compared to now, there’s not much change in his appearance except added maturity that benefits him. That is why we are so excited to see this former-Disney crush who ages like a fine wine back on our screen.
You can catch all eight episodes of Shadow and Bone on Netflix now. If you’ve already watched, what do you think? Leave a reaction below or tweet us at @celebsecrets.
