Following the awards season run for “Manchester By The Sea,” Kenneth Lonergan decided to take a detour from the big screen, and head to television where he’s written a mini-series adaptation of E.M. Forster’s “Howard’s End.” The book has already been adapted in the beloved 1992 Merchant/Ivory jam, but a series allows audiences to go a bit deeper with the characters.
If you’re not up on your literature, the story focuses on two sisters (Hayley Atwell and Philippa Coulthard), the former of whom is wooed by an older widower (Matthew MacFayden), the latter of whom attempts to help a young bank clerk (Joseph Quinn). Julia Ormond, Tracey Ullman, Alex Lawther and Miles Jupp also star in the BBC project, which will land on stateside shores courtesy of Starz.
“I’ve tried to adapt novels for feature length films and most of the work is trying to figure out what to cut and how to allow the book to survive in a shorter format so having four hours to experiment is wonderful,” Lonergan told Deadline.
Hettie Macdonald directs the four-part series which starts airing on November 12th on BBC One, with Starz expected to deliver this show in 2018 for U.S. audiences.