The work of Charles Dickens always seems prescient and allows for multiple incarnations when it’s adapted for the stage, big screen, and television. Another version of his classic love story “Great Expectations” is coming from FX and BBC as the two are teaming for an ambitious new series from Steven Knight (“Peaky Blinders“).
According to Deadline, the project’s cast will be led by Oscar-winner Olivia Colman (“The Favourite“) as Miss Havisham and Fionn Whitehead (“Black Mirror: Bandersnatch,” “Dunkirk“) as the young protagonist, Pip.
Other cast members on the call-sheet include Ashley Thomas, Johnny Harris, Shalom Brune-Franklin, Hayley Squires, Owen McDonnell, and Trystan Gravelle. British funnyman Matt Berry has a role too, who stars in the FX vampire comedy “What We Do In The Shadows” and recently lent his voice in the hit Disney+ series “The Book of Boba Fett” as a droid.
Knight will write and executive produce the six-part series, which will also see Tom Hardy and Ridley Scott on the producing team. This will be Knight’s second attempt at a Dickens adaptation after “A Christmas Carol.”
“‘Great Expectations’ follows the childhood and young adult years of Pip a blacksmith’s apprentice in a country village. He suddenly comes into a large fortune (his great expectations) from a mysterious benefactor and moves to London where he enters high society.“
Many might remember that a modern film adaptation released in 1998 by director Alfonso Cuarón starring Ethan Hawke, Gwyneth Paltrow, Anne Bancroft, and Robert De Niro.
Colman’s upcoming projects include Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” series on Disney+ alongside film roles in the prequel “Wonka” starring Timothee Chalamet and the Sam Mendes pic “Empire of Light.” She recently landed a Best Actress Oscar nomination for her performance in “The Lost Daughter.”