Frank Dillane (“Fear the Walking Dead,” “The Girlfriend Experience”), Hayley Squires (“Adult Material,” “I, Daniel Blake”), Clémence Poésy (“Tenet,” “Genius”) and Jamael Westman (“Anne Boleyn,” “Animals, are set as leads opposite Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston in the Apple TV+ drama series, “The Essex Serpent,” reports Deadline.
The period drama — based on Sarah Perry’s novel of the same name — follows newly widowed Cora, played by Danes, who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area. Hiddleston plays Will Ransome, the trusted leader of a small rural community.
Apple ordered the series from See-Saw Films, the company behind The King’s Speech and Top of the Lake. It will be directed by Dark RiverandThe Selfish Giant director Clio Barnard and written by Mrs Wilson writer Anna Symon.
Dillane will play Luke Garrett, a pioneering young surgeon. Some call him a genius, others a liability. He’s headstrong and ambitious, and he meets his intellectual match in Cora.
Squires will portray Martha. More than just a servant in Cora’s household, she’s a highly intelligent and fiery young socialist, and Cora’s closest confidante.
Poésy will play Stella Ransome, friendly, sympathetic and adored by her husband Will and children. A beautiful soul inside and out, she becomes a firm friend of Cora’s when she arrives in Aldwinter.
Westman is Dr. George Spencer, Luke’s right hand man. An unexceptional surgeon he may be, but a kinder man you couldn’t hope to meet.
Apple TV+ is available on the Apple TV app in over 100 countries and regions, on over 1 billion screens, including iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, iPod touch, Mac, select Samsung, LG, Sony and VIZIO smart TVs, Amazon Fire TV and Roku devices, Chromecast with Google TV, PlayStation and Xbox consoles, and at tv.apple.com, for $4.99 per month with a seven-day free trial. For a limited time, customers who purchase a new iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, Mac or iPod touch can enjoy one year of Apple TV+ for free. This special offer is good for three months after the first activation of the eligible device.
