Among the slew of 2016 projects aiming to hit TV and streaming services that might break out from the tiresome mediocrities that dominate these mediums is Taboo, the latest project from Steven Knight, the writer behind Dirty Pretty Things, Locke, and the great Eastern Promises. The eight-part series will re-team Knight with Locke star Tom Hardy, who will play an explorer in the early 19th century who returns from a 10-year stint in Africa to find that his legacy has taken an unexpected turn. As we learned today, Taboo has just began production in London, and the rest of the cast of the series has been revealed as well, including Game of Thrones vet Jonathan Pryce and House of Cards axiom Michael Kelly, who you may have seen recently in Everest, playing journalist-novelist Jon Krakauer.
The series is also produced by Ridley Scott, and the series sounds right up legendary filmmakers nose, what with the historical thriller arc and the stress on period detail. Whether or not the series will add up to much more than that, and a presumed line of great performances from Hardy and company, won't be known until the series bows in 2016. Check out the official synopsis for the series and cast list below the image.
And check out Steve's interview with Knight about Taboo right here.
Official synopsis and cast list for Taboo:
TABOO will star Hardy as ‘James Keziah Delaney’ who returns to 1814 London after 10 years in Africa to discover that he has been left a mysterious legacy by his father. Driven to wage war on those who have wronged him, Delaney finds himself in a face-off against the East India Company, whilst playing a dangerous game between two warring nations – Britain and America.
Alongside Hardy’s protagonist ‘James Keziah Delaney’ is Michael Kelly (House of Cards, Everest), who plays American doctor ‘Dumbarton,’ Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean, Brazil) as ‘Sir Stuart Strange,’ the head of the East India Company and Delaney’s nemesis, Oona Chaplin (The Crimson Field, The Hour) as ‘Zilpha Geary’ James’ half-sister, and David Hayman (Macbeth, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas) as ‘Brace,’ Delaney’s trusted man-servant.
Jessie Buckley (Shades of Love, Trevor Nunn’s A Little Light Music) plays ‘Lorna Bow’ who lays claim to James’ father’s will. Ashley Walters (Get Rich or Die Tryin’, Bullet Boy) is a dangerous face from James’ years in Africa. Jefferson Hall (Vikings, Our World War) plays ‘Thorne Geary,’ Zilpha’s husband; Ed Hogg (White Lightnin’, Anonymous) is ‘Godfrey,’ Delaney’s cross-dressing spy inside the East India Company, Leo Bill (Alice in Wonderland, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) is ‘Wilton,’ Strange’s fashionable, amoral accomplice; Christopher Fairbank (Guardians of the Galaxy, Hercules) as ‘Ibbotson,’ a man to whom James is indebted; Richard Dixon (The King’s Speech, Mr. Turner) is ‘Pettifer,’ Strange’s right hand man; Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour of Christopher Jefferies, Nativity) is ‘Solomon Coop,’ the Prince Regent’s right hand man and Spy Master; and Nicholas Woodeson (Rome, The Living and the Dead) is lawyer ‘Thoyt,’ the Delaney family’s former lawyer.
