Apple commissions The Essex Serpent

Keira Knightley will star in a new period drama for Apple TV+, The Essex Serpent.

Adapted from Sarah Perry’s bestselling novel of the same name, this will be produced by Aussie / UK / US company See-Saw Films (Lion, Top of the Lake, The End, The New Legends of Monkey).

The series follows newly widowed Cora (Knightley) 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.

The series will be directed by Clio Barnard (The Selfish Giant, The Arbor). Anna Symon (Deep Water, Mrs Wilson) will serve as lead writer. In addition to Knightley, Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Patrick Walters, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman will executive produce the show alongside Clio Barnard and Anna Symon. Andrea Cornwell will serve as producer. Keira Knightley will also serve as executive producer.

The series is commissioned out of the UK by Apple’s Heads of Worldwide Video, Zack Van Amburg and Jamie Erlicht, and Creative Director for Europe Worldwide Video, Jay Hunt.

Dates are yet to be announced.