The First Look at HBO's 'The Palace' is Sumptuous Authoritarianism

Kate Winslet is staying booked and busy, partnering with HBO for two projects she leads and co-produces. Perhaps to cover all her bases, the series she's diving into each comes from one side of the pond, with one limited series production based on the American author Hernan Diaz's hit novel, Trust. However, the other is the one that will catch the attention of Anglophiles. The new series is currently filming under the working title The Palace, with filming slated for Berlin and the U.K., in what looks to be a fictionalized European country that has fallen under an authoritarian regime.

The series is probably not directly British but falls into that nebulous "British-ish" space occupied by so much science fiction and fantasy. It comes from Will Tracy and Frank Rich, the duo behind the popular HBO series Succession. That series has its roots in British culture, based on the News of the World scandal in the U.K., and stars Brian Cox as the Murdoch-esque patriarch and Matthew Mcfadyen as his toadying son-in-law, among other British talents. However, The Palace looks to have a more euro-bent to its story, if the first look photo is anything to go by, and will be helmed by director Stephen Frears (A Very English Scandal).