BBC Announces A Return To ‘Wolf Hall’ For A Final Season
The BBC, alongside the USA’s PBS Masterpiece are returning to ‘Wolf Hall‘ for a final season, based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s multi-award-winning trilogy, with Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis, Kate Phillips and Jonathan Pryce returning.
Reuniting the creative team from the BAFTA and Golden Globe winning first series, ‘Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’ will be directed by seven-time BAFTA award winner Peter Kosminsky (The Undeclared War, The State), adapted for television by Academy award nominee Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Frank) and produced by Colin Callender’s Playground (The Undeclared War, All Creatures Great and Small) and Company Pictures (Van Der Valk, Blood).
May 1536. Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, is dead. As the axe drops, Thomas Cromwell emerges from the bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, has no great family to back him, and no private army. Navigating the moral complexities that accompany the exercise of power in this brutal and bloody time, Cromwell is caught between his desire to do what is right and his instinct to survive. But in the wake of Henry VIII having executed his queen, no one is safe.
Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows. The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?
Eagerly awaited and years in the making, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will trace the final four years of Cromwell’s life, completing his journey from self-made man to the most feared, influential figure of his time. Cromwell is as complex as he is unforgettable: a politician and a fixer, a diplomat and a father, a man who both defied and defined his age.
“The Mirror and the Light picks up exactly where Wolf Hall ended, with the execution of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn,” says Director Peter Kosminsky. “I’m overjoyed to be able to reunite the extraordinary cast we were lucky enough to assemble for Wolf Hall, led by the brilliant Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, with the original creative team of Gavin Finney (DOP), Pat Campbell (Designer) and Joanna Eatwell (Costume Designer). We are all determined to complete what we started – and to honour the final novel written by one of the greatest literary figures of our age, Hilary Mantel.”
Damian Lewis, Kate Phillips and Jonathan Pryce in Wolf Hall series one. Lilit Lesser (Image: Asia Werbel)
Academy Award winner Mark Rylance will return to his BAFTA-winning role of Thomas Cromwell, with Emmy Award winner Damian Lewis returning as King Henry VIII, alongside Academy Award nominee Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Wolsey. Also returning are Kate Phillips as Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour and Lilit Lesser as Princess Mary, the daughter of Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Further returning and new cast members will be announced in due course.
“A stunning and unforgettable adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s sublime novels, Wolf Hall quickly established itself as one of the all-time great television dramas, with millions of adoring viewers across the U.K. and around the World,” adds Charlotte Moore, BBC Chief Content Officer. “Almost a decade on we’re delighted to have reunited this exceptional creative team and lead cast to conclude Mantel’s thrilling saga on the BBC.”
‘Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light’ is a Playground and Company Pictures co-production for the BBC and Masterpiece. The series will be distributed internationally by Banijay Rights. The series is directed by Peter Kosminsky, adapted by Peter Straughan, and produced by Lisa Osborne. Executive Producers are Colin Callender and Noëlette Buckley for Playground, Peter Kosminsky, Lucy Richer for the BBC, and Susanne Simpson for Masterpiece.
If you wish to catch up, ‘Wolf Hall’ season one is available to watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on the PBS Masterpiece Prime Video Channel in the US.
‘Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light‘ will begin filming across the UK soon, and will air on the BBC in the US and PBS Masterpiece in the USA. If you want to keep track of this or any other show, you can add them via our Never Miss system, and you’ll be notified when it gets a UK premiere date.
