Paddy Considine & Kit Harington Team Up for ‘Army of Shadows’
Channel 4 is bringing a newly reimagined version of 'Army of Shadows' to the small screen, starring not one but two Targaryens.
Nigel Farage may currently be running for his seat in Parliament against an alleged alien disguised as a human waste bin, but the specter of a possible Reform Government taking power in 2029 still haunts a traumatized U.K. electorate blindsided by Brexit. Gleeful polls tout Labour’s unpopularity (and the Tories’ super-unpopularity), Keir Starmer is about to give way to Andy Burnham, and papers are bracing for voters to get fully disappointed by someone new. Add in the speed at which studies say American democracy is eroding, and it shouldn’t surprise anyone that writers and artists are reaching back to the mid-20th century to inspire their future set dystopias.
The latest is a high-profile series from Channel 4, Army of Shadows. Inspired by Joseph Kessel’s novel dramatizing the WWII French Resistance and the 1969 film adaptation by Jean-Pierre Melville, this new take resets the action in a near-future, occupied Great Britain.
Were this even just five years ago, it’s exactly the sort of show that would have HBO Max on board as co-producer from the jump. The futuristic London setting, the daring nature of the concept, and a cast that includes not one but two actors who headlined Westerosi-set series honestly make it a little eyebrow-raising that HBO is not on board*. As it stands, the series does not yet have a co-producer on this side of the pond, and it will be very interesting to see who has the nerve to board it.
(*But then again, U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy is rumored to be leaning towards blocking the WarnerMount merger that would turn HBO into American State Television.)
Here’s the new series synopsis:
Britain looks almost normal, but the flags are different, the news is careful, and nobody says certain things out loud anymore. But everyone can feel it. Somewhere beneath the surface of ordinary life, something has gone terribly, quietly wrong. Out of the shadows emerges a former soldier known only as Berry, who starts building a secret resistance network. He knows one thing above all else: don’t act before you’re ready. An unlikely group starts to coalesce around him - people who’ve decided they can’t look away any longer: a soldier, a student, a radiographer, a journalist. Ordinary people, with ordinary lives, making an extraordinary and irreversible choice.
Against them: a state with unlimited reach, a ruthless minister who’ll do whatever it takes to maintain “order”, and an American intelligence operative called Jessie, who is very, very good at her job. Army of Shadows is a tense, propulsive thriller about what resistance actually costs. If your country were occupied, what would you do?
Thus far, only the topline cast has been revealed: Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon), Alex Hassell (Rivals), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), and American actor America Ferrera (Barbie). Channel 4 did not include who plays who in the series. Further casting is expected to be announced in due course.
Series creator Ronan Bennett (The Day of the Jackal) is currently slated to pen all six episodes; director Lisa Gunning (Black Doves) will helm all installments, with Alison Sterling producing. Bennett also executive produces alongside Paul Gilbert & M-K Kennedy for StudioCanal Television; Ron Halpern & Joe Naftalin for StudioCanal; and Stephen Wright & Michael Jackson for Two Cities Television. The series has been developed and produced with the support of the Melville family and the Kessel estate, which is controlled by the Irish Red Cross.
Filming for Army of Shadows is currently underway in Manchester, with on-location shoots in Liverpool, London and Paris. No American distributor has been announced.
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