Claire Danes replaces Keira Knightley as the protagonist of the upcoming series The Essex Serpent … in what will be her first post-Homeland role
It didn’t take long for Claire Danes to come back and get another lead role for television.
Just nine months after ending her role as CIA agent Carrie Mathison in the spy series Homeland, the actress signed on to star in the period drama series The Essex Serpent for Apple TV +.
Danes takes over from Keira Knightley, who was originally cast as Cora Seaborne, but had to drop out of the project for personal reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
New show: Claire Danes will star in the lead role of the period drama series The Essex Serpent for Apple TV +
The series is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by British author Sarah Perry.
Set in the Victorian era of the 1890s, the drama follows Cora (Danes), a newly widowed woman savoring her newfound freedom from an abusive husband, who moves from London to a small town in Essex.
Shortly after arriving, she is intrigued by a local superstition: a mythical sea snake known as the Essex snake that has returned to the area.
The original protagonist: Danes is taking on the lead role of Keira Knightley, who abandoned the project due to concerns about raising her two young children in COVID-19
The role of a lifetime: Danes just finished his successful spy drama Homeland in April 2020, after eight seasons that premiered in 2011
The seesaw production is being directed by Clio Barnard, best known for his work on the film The Selfish Giant (2013), and produced by Andrea Cornwell.
Anna Symon will be the principal writer. Her curriculum includes writing for the British historical drama series, Mrs. Wilson (2018).
Both Barnard and Symon will also serve as executive producers alongside Jamie Laurenson, Patrick Walters, Hakan Kousetta, Emile Sherman and Iain Canning, according to Deadline
Apple gave the green light and ordered The Essex Serpent for the series in August 2020.
Gold on TV: the 41-year-old actress made waves as a protagonist on television when she starred alongside Jared Leto in the acclaimed series My So-Called Life (1994-1995)
Knightley, who was labeled Queen of the Period Pieces after starring in films such as Pride and Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007), was cast as Cora, but she dropped out in October due to concerns about child care during the pandemic.
Danes, 41, enters the series after starring in Homeland for eight seasons, which ran from 2011 to 2020.
She made waves on television starring alongside Jared Leto in the acclaimed teen series My So-Called Life (1994-1995).
The following year, the New York native paired with Leonardo DiCaprio in the romantic drama film Romeo + Juliet (1996).
Among his most celebrated roles: the HBO film Temple Grandin (2010), in which he played a young woman with autism.
Dream team for teenagers: the New Yorker was paired with Leonardo DiCaprio in the romantic film of tragedy and crime Romeo + Juliet (1996)