Keira Knightley, empress of the period drama, is bringing Sarah Perry’s award-winning novel to our screens as both actress and executive producer of the upcoming Apple TV series adaptation.
Reeling off period dramas that Knightley has starred in is easy; from her moving romance with dreamy Mr. Darcy (Matthew Macfayden) in Pride & Prejudice, to her tragically-fated affair with dashing Charles Grey (Dominic Cooper) in The Duchess, she has donned corsets and gowns and dazzled our screens with her intense chestnut stare.
Unlike her previous roles, Keira’s character in The Essex Serpent is less love and more snake-obsessed. Named ‘Book of the Year’ at the British Book Awards and ‘Waterstones Book of the Year’ in 2016, Sarah Perry’s The Essex Serpent is a thrilling Gothic-infused novel whose heroine, Cora Seagrave, moves from Victorian London to a small village in Essex after her husband dies. Intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area, Cora is quickly drawn into a web of supernatural mystery when this folktale comes to life.
Romance remains in the novel (what period-drama is complete without it) when Cora meets William Ransome, the religious adversary of the serpent’s existence, but in a dark and complicated form. Tortured by simultaneous opposition and attraction, the pair’s unconventional, intellectually-bound relationship sends shock waves through the community.
With symbolism rife in the novel (perhaps the serpent represents the wonder of a new, independent world that Cora can escape to now widowed?), and fertile opportunities to conjure atmospherically the Victorian time-period, The Essex Serpent is sure to make an engaging and thrilling TV adaptation.
In this tumultuous time of a pandemic caused by proven biology and facts, the supernaturalism of The Essex Serpent series will provide some much-needed escapism, transporting viewers to a different time, place, and mindset.
The series will be directed by Clio Barnard (Dark River and The Selfish Giant) and is written by Anna Symon (Mrs Wilson).
A date to expect the series is not yet known, but one thing’s for sure – The Essex Serpent will add another jewel to Knightley’s glistening crown of period-dramas. I for one can’t wait to see her elegant smile and pout grace our screens once more.
Words by Imogen Higgins