First announced back in December 2020, HBO and Sky Studios’ limited series Landscapers now has some first-look images that give us a little preview of what to expect from the dark comedy-drama. Created and written by debut screenwriter Ed Sinclair, the limited series tells the real story of a British couple convicted of the murder of one of the spouse’s parents.
It’s not that we didn’t know we could expect a great story: after all, Landscapers is based in a surreal crime that went unnoticed for 15 years and made headlines in the United Kingdom in 2014. However, the images show that the series will not only rely on the incredible story but also dedicate its four episodes to striking cinematography and, of course, the talent of its two lead actors, Olivia Colman and David Thewlis.
Back in 2020, HBO's announcement of the limited series attached Academy Award winner Alexander Payne (The Descendants) as director. However, Payne has since been replaced by Will Sharpe, who was in BBC’s Sherlock and Defending the Guilty. Sharpe also directed another dark comedy, the BBC series Flowers, which starred Colman as the mother of a maladjusted family that shares a love for music.
Colman was recently seen on Netflix’s The Crown, in which she played Queen Elizabeth II in Seasons 3 and 4. She won the Academy Award in 2019 for her performance in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite and was nominated again in 2020 for Florian Zeller’s The Father. She's next due to star in Marvel's Disney+ series Secret Invasion. Thewlis will next be seen in Netflix's The Sandman series, in which he plays John Dee.
Inspired by real events, Landscapers tells a unique love story involving a seemingly ordinary British couple who become the focus of an extraordinary investigation when two dead bodies are discovered in the back garden of a house in Nottingham. The cast also features Kate O’ Flynn, Dipo Ola, Samuel Anderson, Karl Johnson, Felicity Montagu and Daniel Rigby.
Landscapers will air on HBO and be available for streaming on HBO Max, but an official release date has not yet been set.
You can see the official images below:
