When The Young Pope premiered on HBO in 2016, the combination of bizarre premise, unique marketing, and, yes, Jude Law, made for a cocktail that sent the clergy (sorry) of meme-land into an absolute frenzy.
Guess what? We’re just gonna roll that all back, as HBO is teaming up with Law again for the new The New Pope; not much is known about this project, and whether or not it’s a sequel to The Young Pope, a spiritual successor, or what. But when Jude Law is trotting down the beach looking like this, none of that really matters. This is a ????????????meme-ergency. (Yes, I just coined that term, and no, we will not be accepting workshops of it at this time.)
Obviously, the internet reacted to this. Law observers, many of them perhaps unadulterated fans since the days of Gattaca and The Talented Mr. Ripley, chimed in to share takes on the man’s latest reaction-inducing look.
For the most part, reaction has been glowingly positive: there was praise for the fact that Law, at age 46, still managed to break the internet just by stripping down to his bare necessities. There was general thirst, as one would expect. There has even already been a backlash—is Law, in fact, not that hot?
Alas, that is simply not up to us here at Men’s Health to decide. All that we can do at this point is join the crowd and wonder what exactly is happening on this beach, with these volleyballs, and how, exactly, John Malkovich will fit into this confusing picture.
This article originally appeared on w