Hugh Bonneville Returns: W1A Sequel Set for 2026 FIFA World Cup!

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Hugh Bonneville will once again take on the beloved character of Ian Fletcher in an upcoming sitcom airing on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. The storyline for this new series revolves around the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

Under the title “Twenty Twenty Six,” the broadcaster officially revealed Fletcher’s new position as the Director of Integrity for the upcoming major football tournament, in a playful press announcement.

As a seasoned veteran with my tenure as a leader during the London Olympic Games 2012 and a stint as Head of Values at the esteemed BBC, I find myself stepping onto the hallowed grounds of global football.

The upcoming tournament next year is set to be the largest one yet. Notably, it will be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico. A total of 48 nations are expected to participate, with matches taking place at 16 venues scattered thousands of miles across North America. With such a grand scale, one might wonder what could potentially cause any issues?

Ian Fletcher is set to discover his new role, as he takes up position with the Twenty Twenty Six Oversight Team in Miami, serving as their Director of Ethics and Accountability.

The announcement additionally featured a statement attributed to Fletcher, where his character expresses: “Regarding the Integrity position, using a soccer metaphor, this presents a seldom chance to define your own objectives and then achieve them on a worldwide field.

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Besides Bonneville, the series will also feature Nick Blood (Slow Horses), Chelsey Crisp (Fresh Off the Boat), Paulo Costanzo (Designated Survivor), Stephen Kunken (The Handmaid’s Tale), Jimena Larraguivel (Patience), Alexis Michalik (A Love Story), and Belinda Stewart-Wilson (The Inbetweeners). These talented actors will join Bonneville in the show.

Once more, the six-episode series is penned and orchestrated by John Morton, the mastermind behind both Twenty Twelve and W1A. He shared that his eagerness to delve into Ian Fletcher’s recent activities was what drove him to write this series.

He mentioned that I last knew he was still recuperating from an intensive Mindfulness Retreat in Somerset. It’s wonderful news to learn that he has since returned and is back at a renowned establishment, this time with global visibility and a significant chance to prove himself – a challenge he’s never faced before.

I’m incredibly excited and deeply thankful to the BBC for allowing me another opportunity to track him, this time right up to Miami. Frankly, I can hardly contain my anticipation to witness what unfolds.

In the meantime, Jon Petrie, the Director of Comedy at the BBC, commented: “We’ll greatly miss Ian’s priceless input as Head of Values here at the BBC. Yet, it’s hard to resist the opportunity to be a part of one of the largest and most ambitious global sporting events. We wish him, along with his team, nothing but the best.

In May 2024, there were whispers about a new series, with Sarah Parish, a former W1A cast member, hinting at it in her interview on the That Gaby Roslin podcast.

In the year 2012, the character Ian Fletcher made his debut in the show Twenty Twelve, satirizing the organizing committee for the London Summer Olympics. He subsequently appeared in each of the three seasons of W1A from 2014 to 2017.

In 2020, the show made a brief comeback for a single lockdown special, featuring Fletcher leading the first virtual gathering of the BBC’s COVID-19 Recovery Team. Last year, the cast came together yet again for a humorous sketch as part of Comic Relief.

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2025-06-19 15:34