BMN File Photo of Rural Whatcom County. Note: Location in photo has no known connection to the film.
BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Netflix has revealed the cast and first story details for Tyler Perry’s upcoming thriller Confabulation, bringing together actors known for Emily in Paris, It: Welcome to Derry, John Wick: Chapter 4, The Rookie universe and 9-1-1.
Netflix announced the project and its cast Sept. 29, naming Lucien Laviscount, Taylour Paige and Shamier Anderson as the film’s leading stars. Nadine Ellis, Peter Parros, Najah Bradley, Mikeal Dwayne, Jenna Nolen, Michelle Núñez, Colin McCalla and Shelley Robertson are also part of the announced ensemble.
The thriller follows a troubled firefighter who becomes fixated on rescuing a woman he once loved from her powerful husband. As he digs deeper into her life, fractured memories begin colliding with the present, forcing him to question whether the situation he believes he is trying to stop is actually what it appears to be.
Netflix has not yet disclosed which members of the cast are playing the firefighter, his former love or her husband. The streaming giant said additional details surrounding the project remain under wraps.
Laviscount will already be familiar to Netflix viewers as Alfie in Emily in Paris. Netflix also lists his recent work in Strung. The British actor’s career stretches back years, with earlier appearances in television productions including Coronation Street and Scream Queens.
Paige has appeared in films including Zola, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F and I Love Boosters. She also plays Charlotte Hanlon in HBO’s It: Welcome to Derry, where the Hanlon family is central to the series’ connection with Stephen King’s larger It story. Charlotte is the wife of Leroy Hanlon and mother of Will Hanlon.
Anderson is familiar to action audiences for his role as the tracker known as Mr. Nobody in John Wick: Chapter 4. He has also starred as Trevante Cole in Apple TV’s science-fiction series Invasion. Netflix highlighted both projects while announcing Anderson as one of the principal actors in Confabulation.
Several members of the supporting cast also have familiar television credits.
Michelle Núñez is known for playing Elena Flores in ABC’s The Rookie: Feds. Flores works with the FBI Special Investigative Unit as a technical analyst and is the niece of Supervisory Special Agent Matthew Garza. Núñez has also appeared as Flores in the original The Rookie.
Colin McCalla appeared on 9-1-1 as Connor Riley, a longtime friend and former roommate of Evan “Buck” Buckley. Connor later returned to the series as part of a storyline involving Buck and Connor’s family.
Peter Parros has a lengthy television career and previously worked in Perry’s television universe as David Harrington on The Haves and the Have Nots. Netflix’s announced ensemble also includes Nadine Ellis, Najah Bradley, Mikeal Dwayne, Jenna Nolen and Shelley Robertson.
The announcement comes during a period of unusual film activity in Bellingham and other parts of Whatcom County.
One of the most visible shoots took place in downtown Bellingham in late September, when State Street between Holly and Chestnut streets was closed overnight as crews worked around The Shakedown and nearby businesses.
Public reporting identified TPS Production Services LLC as the permittee for the downtown shoot. Federal records list TPS Production Services LLC at 1 Tyler Perry Studio Way in Atlanta and associate its contact information with the Tyler Perry Studios domain.
Cascadia Daily News reported on the downtown filming and cited a public Alessi Hartigan Casting notice inviting background performers to participate in a Tyler Perry film. The outlet reported that several different types of background performers were being sought, while the title of the movie remained undisclosed.
Additional casting and filming activity occurred around Whatcom County during the same period. Publicly available information does not establish that every local shoot belonged to a single movie, and the appearance of TPS Production Services LLC in connection with production activity is not enough on its own to identify a particular title. TPS is used across multiple Tyler Perry productions.
Adding another layer of speculation, actor and WWE star John Cena was also in Bellingham while film activity was underway.
Bellingham Metro News confirmed Cena was spotted around Bellingham on Sept. 19 after the newsroom received photographs and eyewitness accounts showing him at several locations, including Liminal Cafe at the Lighthouse Mission’s New Life Center. Additional reports placed him at Camber Coffee and elsewhere around the city.
At the time, BMN made clear that Cena’s presence in town had not been connected to the film production by the studio, production company or Cena’s representatives. The timing naturally prompted speculation, but his visit could also have been unrelated to the filming taking place around Whatcom County.
Cascadia Daily News later referenced Cena in its coverage of the downtown shoot, describing him only as being rumored to appear in the film. The outlet did not report that his involvement had been confirmed or disproven.
Cena is also not included in Netflix’s currently announced cast for Confabulation. That does not rule out an unannounced appearance or other involvement, but there is currently no public information tying him to any TPS film.
The same caution applies to Confabulation itself.
Netflix’s Sept. 29 announcement does not identify Bellingham, Whatcom County or Washington state as a filming location for the movie, nor does it connect Confabulation with the downtown Bellingham shoot or other production activity recently seen around the county.
There is, however, one notable public clue connecting the local production activity to the newly announced film. Public Casting notices posted through Alessi Hartigan Casting for background work in Whatcom County were labeled “CON – PNW.”Those listings were publicly visible to people searching the company’s background-actor job board during the local filming period.
The “CON” project code could reasonably appear consistent with Confabulation, while “PNW” appears to distinguish the Pacific Northwest portion of the production. Still, neither Netflix nor Tyler Perry Studios has publicly confirmed what the abbreviation stands for or formally identified Bellingham or Whatcom County as a filming location for Confabulation.
Bellingham Metro News is therefore treating “CON – PNW” as a noteworthy connection, but not as confirmation that the local shoots were for Confabulation. BMN will update its reporting if Netflix, Tyler Perry Studios or another official source publicly confirms the connection.
For now, Netflix has confirmed the movie’s title, premise and ensemble cast while leaving much of the production itself under wraps. A release date has not yet been announced.
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