The streaming wars have led to an excellent time for well-crafted television. The quality of TV shows keeps elevating with compelling dramatic performances from actors from both the worlds of film and television alike as it’s not as taboo these days to move between the two mediums. Disney+ is now looking to shift toward darker stories and will set its sights on an original series tackling the Holocaust.
Deadline reports that the streaming service is behind an eight-episode drama series, “A Small Light.” The National Geographic limited series tells the remarkable true-life story of a Dutch woman, Miep Gies, who risked her life to shelter Anne Frank’s family from the Nazis in occupied Amsterdam for more than two years and then preserved Anne’s diary that was later published for the public.
The cast will include Bel Powley (“White Boy Rick”) playing Gies with Liev Schreiber (“Spotlight”) and Joe Cole (“Peaky Blinders”) also being tapped respectively for the roles of Otto Frank and Miep’s husband Jan Gies. This is already a solid group of actors and a project to keep our eyes on.
“Grey’s Anatomy” alums Joan Rater and Tony Phelan will write/showrun with Susanna Fogel (“Utopia,” ‘The Flight Attendant”) directing multiple episodes, including the pilot.
Here is the new drama’s synopsis posted by the outlet:
The eight-episode limited series centers on 20-something secretary Miep Gies (Powley), who didn’t hesitate when her boss Otto Frank asked her to hide him and his family from the Nazis during World War II. For the next two years, Miep, her husband Jan, and several other everyday heroes watched over the eight souls hiding in the secret annex. It was Miep who found Anne’s diary and preserved it so that she and Otto could later share it with the world.
Frank’s iconic diary became a heartbreaking record of the Holocaust as many Jews were hidden from the ruthless Nazis in similar situations throughout Europe by kind-hearted people that risked their own lives for those that would otherwise end up in various concentration camps or simply killed on the spot.
“A Small Light” is a clear sign that Disney+ is attempting to move past cartoons and endless television spinoffs of popular film franchises. Production takes place this summer in Prague and Amsterdam.