Fans Call Out Age Gap Between Tom Holland And His On-Screen Mum In New Series

Tom Holland will star in new Apple+ series The Crowded Room - but people are a little bit confused about who's been cast to play his mum.

Holland plays the lead in the anthology series, which 'will explore inspirational stories of those who have struggled, and learned to successfully live with, mental illness', and Emmy Rossum will play his mum.

The announcement has raised a lot of eyebrows, namely because Shameless star Rossum is only 35 - making her less than 10 years older then her 'son' Holland.

Taking to social media, people shared their bewilderment, with some calling out sexism and ageism in Hollywood.

One person tweeted: "More nonsense in the casting of a young woman not old enough to play the mother of a 25 year old. A middle aged woman losing out again. They are invisible on screen. #actyourage"

Another said: "Emmy Rossum is 35. Tom Holland is 25. What is this nonsense!?"

A third added: "Emmy Rossum is 35 and Tom Holland is 25. I have to assume the focus of this film is the trauma of Emmy’s character giving birth at age 10."

Me trying to work out the age gap for Emmy Rossum to be playing Tom Holland's motherpic.twitter.com/uKPpBu8i4q https://t.co/DdAJiUTAUm

— Amy Van Gar (@amyvangar) February 22, 2022

EMMY ROSSUM PLAYING TOM HOLLAND’S MOM???? pic.twitter.com/b8C330h4bQ

— Emily (@BlameEmily) February 23, 2022

I'm supposed to believe Emmy Rossum is Tom Holland's mom?! pic.twitter.com/Dpu2gV8fvI

— Screen Sisters 📺 (@ScreenSisters_) February 22, 2022

It sounds like all of this outrage may have been premature, though.

According to writer Carina Adly Mackenzie, Rossum's scenes will be in flashbacks, which would make sense of the peculiar casting.

She wrote: "Guys — Emmy Rossum is playing Tom Holland’s mom because the vast majority of her scenes are flashbacks to his character's very early childhood when he endured the trauma that caused his Dissociative Identity Disorder. It started before he was 5 years old."

Guys — Emmy Rossum is playing Tom Holland’s mom because the vast majority of her scenes are flashbacks to his character’s very early childhood when he endured the trauma that caused his Dissociative Identity Disorder. It started before he was 5 years old.

Okay, carry on.

— carina adly mackenzie (@cadlymack) February 22, 2022

The show is being written and executive produced by Akiva Goldsman and is based partly on his life and Daniel Keyes' biography The Minds of Billy Milligan.

Holland - who is also executive producing - will play Danny Sullivan, the first person acquitted of a crime because of multiple-personality disorder (which is now known as dissociative identity disorder).

Rossum plays mum Candy, who is looking for a man to fulfil her dreams of salvation.

Mean Girls star Amanda Seyfried will also feature, taking on the role of clinical psychologist Rya, who faces the most challenging case of her career.

There's no release date for the show just yet, but keep your eyes peeled folks.