Golden Globe and BAFTA Award-winning drama producer Playground has announced the cast for its upcoming adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women for the BBC and PBS.
Emily Watson (Apple Tree Yard, The Theory of Everything, Genius) is set to play Marmee, the iconic matriarch of the March family. The March sisters will be played by newcomer Maya Hawke as the willful and adventurous Jo, Willa Fitzgerald (Scream: The TV Series, Misfortune) as eldest daughter Meg, Annes Elwy (Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams) as Beth, and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies, Halt and Catch Fire) as youngest sister Amy.
Academy Award-winner Dame Angela Lansbury (Murder, She Wrote, The Manchurian Candidate) will play the girls’ wealthy relative – the cantankerous Aunt March. BAFTA-Award winner Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, Churchill’s Secret) takes the role of their benevolent neighbor Mr. Laurence, and Jonah Hauer-King (Howards End, The Last Photograph) will play his grandson Laurie Laurence, the charming boy next door.
Set against the backdrop of a country divided, Little Women follows the four sisters Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy March on their journey from childhood to adulthood. With the help of their mother Marmee, while their father is away at war, the girls navigate what it means to be a young woman: from gender roles to sibling rivalry, first love, loss and marriage.
Little Women is set to begin production in Ireland this month, with Vanessa Caswill (Thirteen, My Mad Fat Diary) directing from a script by Heidi Thomas (Cranford, Call the Midwife).
Originally published July 9, 2017. Updated April 16, 2018.
