The BBC are adapting Susanna Clarke's 2004 novel JONATHAN STRANGE & MR NORRELL into a seven-part series for next year. Peter Harness (Wallander) has written the scripts, which will star Eddie Marsan (as Mr Norrell) and Bertie Carvel (as Mr Strange), two Englishmen living in an alternate 19th-century, who help the British government in the war against Napoleon using magic. It will also star Alice Englert (Beautiful Creatures), Marc Warren (Mad Dogs), Samuel West (Mr Selfridge) and Charlotte Riley (Wuthering Heights).
FX have bought the U.S rights to show upcoming BBC drama TABOO, starring Tom Hardy (The Dark Knight Rises), which is based on a story by Hardy and his father. Hardy will play James Keziah Delaney, a rogue adventurer in 1813 who returns from Africa with stolen diamonds and a thirst to avenge the death of his father. Steven Knight (Locke) will write the eight-part series, with Ridley Scott (Gladiator) producing. It's unusual for a U.S channel not affiliated with the BBC to screen a UK drama like this, so I'm interested to see how it fares. Filming begins soon, but it won't premiere until 2016 on FX.
Isaac Asimov's acclaimed sci-fi novel saga FOUNDATION is coming to HBO, courtesy of writer Jonathan Nolan (Interstellar). The story concerns a future mathematician called Hari Seldon who develops the scientific concept of "psychohistory", only to predict the downfall of a Galactic Empire and an ensuing 30,000-years of anarchy before a new empire rises. Perturbed by this, Seldon attempts to create a better "foundation" for humanity's future by recruiting the world's intelligentsia. Foundation actually continued beyond Asimov's original trilogy of books in 1981 (when the author wrote two sequels and two prequels), but the original three will be the basis of Nolan's TV series.
