The modern day The War of the Worlds series from Urban Myth Films, Canal+, Fox and AGC Television has just added two more to its cast in Gabriel Byrne (Hereditary) and Elizabeth McGovern (Downtown Abbey).
Byrne and McGovern will star alongside Léa Drucker (Le Bureau Des Légendes), Natasha Little (Silent Witness), Daisy Edgar Jones (Cold Feet), Stéphane Caillard (Marseille), Adel Bencherif (The Prophet) and Guillaume Gouix (The Returned).
The eight-part drama has been created by Howard Overman (Merlin), who has described the project as “a cautionary tale of racial superiority and ethnic conflict” and stated that he is looking to create a “bold, fresh and relatable” version of the Martian invasion tale. Gilles Coulier (Cargo) will direct the first half of the series while Richard Clark (Versailles) will direct the last half.
The War of the Worlds series sees “astronomers detecting a transmission from another galaxy, giving definitive proof of intelligent extra-terrestrial life. Earth’s population waits for further contact with baited breath, but does not have to wait long. Within days, mankind is all but wiped out, with just pockets of humanity are left in an eerily deserted world. As alien ships appear in the sky, the survivors ask a burning question — who are these attackers and why are they hell-bent on our destruction?”
The project is not to be confused with the BBC’s own upcoming three-part TV adaptation The War of the Worlds, which retains the Victorian setting of Wells’ novel and stars Rafe Spall (Life of Pi) and Eleanor Tomlinson (Jack the Giant Slayer).