Eddie Horniman: The Gentlemen character explained

Eddie Horniman is one of the protagonist leads in Netflix’s thriller comedy, The Gentlemen. Theo James plays the character in the series. 

Eddie Horniman is the second-born son of the Twelfth Duke of Halstead, Archibald Horatio Landrover Horniman. 

Archibald dies and leaves Eddie the estate and most other major assets, instead of his firstborn, Freddy. 

Contending with the Freddy fallout

Eddie is wealthy, but only asset-rich, not cash-rich; this is a problem because Freddy has £8 million in debt to a family of cocaine dealers. 

Freddy is family and Eddie will do anything to protect his family, so he considers selling off his manor to an interested buyer who’s willing to pay way above market price. 

In the meantime, he meets Susie Glass, who introduces him to the cannabis empire she works for, and one of its many cannabis farms that operates beneath the dairy farm at his estate.

He chooses his newly discovered criminal associates to sort out the Freddy problem rather than the wealthy and also shady Stanley Johnston, who’s particularly interested in buying his property.

Eddie and Susie Glass try to help out Freddy but the latter digs a deeper hole for himself and those trying to help him climb out of the shallow one. 

Into the world of criminality

The thirteenth Duke of Halstead has to continuously dip his toes in the river of crime to expedite his extradition from said river. 

He kills a man, to save another one’s life, which in turn saves his and his brother’s lives. He later helps Susie Glass placate an argument customer.

When said customer turns out to be scamming them, he and Susie throw the customer to the vicious gangster he was trying to scam and steal from as well. 

Eddie doesn’t carry anything from the murder he has to commit in self-defense earlier on, nor does he get fazed when the ruthless gangster decapitates the scammer-customer most viscerally.

The extradition comes with a cost

He needs to make the Glass family a lot of money before they depart eventually, within the deadline he gives them. 

He does just that by shaking hands with the Wards and using the family of travelers to ship their product across Europe when the business’s usual export route gets blocked. 

He also helps them expand their business by getting two new landmasses available for new weed farms. 

His talents, skills, and unflinching heart, contribute heavily to the exponential success of the business. 

And Bobby Glass, Susie’s exiled father and the head of the Glass empire knows that. He can’t afford to lose Eddie and tells Susie she better make him understand that. 

Susie has respect for Eddie and doesn’t directly intimate him to stay in the business until newly sown doubts and fears pits him against her and she comes clean regarding their intentions with him.

Eddie Horniman wants out and above all, prioritizes his family’s safety. So he turns to Henry Collins to speed up money laundering which Susie tells him is the last step before his exit.

The troubles before the exit

However, Collins turns out to be a pawn of Stanley Johnston who goes too far when he gets Susie’s brother Jack put into a coma. 

Susie and Eddie find out that their business has been getting derailed for the past months all because of Stanley Johnston. At the same time, Susie’s doubts force her to go after Eddie. 

However, a new move made by the aristocrat helps him get his family out of a pickle and survive a close encounter with death. 

Eddie and Susie join hands first to get Bobby Glass the best deal for his business that he announces he’s going to sell. 

Breaking bad

This wraps up all the matters before Edward Horniman’s exit from the cannabis empire and the weed farms’ exit from his estate. 

However, when Freddy tells him he’s most suited for this world and job, Eddie finally considers this world he’s been embroiled in and the possibility that this is truly his calling. 

And so the aristocrat finally gears up to take the helm of the empire, along with other prospects whose investments he needs to make the highest bid. 

The biggest partner he finds is Susie Glass, and the two emerge as the top dogs in the new era of the industrial cannabis empire. 

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Also Read: The Gentlemen (2024) summary and ending explained