Deadline is reporting that Eva Green (Sin City: A Dame to Kill For) and Eve Hewson (The Knick) have been cast alongside Marton Csokas (The Lord of the Rings) in the upcoming BBC Two adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel The Luminaries.
Produced by Working Title Television and scripted by Catton, the six-part series is described as “an epic story of love, murder and revenge” set in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush on New Zealand’s South Island.
The series “follows defiant young adventurer Anna Wetherell (Hewson), who has sailed from Britain to New Zealand to begin a new life. There she meets the radiant Emery Staines, an encounter that triggers a strange kind of magic that neither can explain. But Anna must survive the dangerous world, where shipwreck and murder, blackmail and betrayal, greed, gold and false imprisonment all conspire to keep her apart from Emery. The star-crossed lovers begin to wonder: Do we make our fortunes, or do our fortunes make us?”
“I’m thrilled to be joining Working Title and this wonderful team,” states Green. “Eleanor has written a series of brilliant screenplays. I loved her original novel and it’s so exciting that her own screen adaptation reveals yet more exquisite material.”
“Ever since I read Eleanor’s incredible novel I’ve been completely captivated by the rich world she has created,” added director Claire McCarthy. “What an honor to bring this beautiful and original work to the screen. I’m delighted to be joining forces with such wonderful actors and dynamic creative team.”
Green will next be seen in Tim Burton’s live-action Disney remake Dumbo, which is set to arrive in March 2019, while Hewson stars alongside Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx and Jamie Dornan in November’s action-adventure Robin Hood.
