Production is now officially underway on the London set of FX and BBC’s period drama Taboo, and to celebrate, the studios have unveiled the series’ international cast.
With Tom Hardy already in place to reunite with Locke and Peaky Blinders cohort Steven Knight – the pair co-created the project – The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Jonathan Pryce, House of Cards‘ Michael Kelly, Oona Chaplin and David Hayman have all been recruited for the period piece. Behind the lens for the eight-episode series is Kristoffer Nyholm, best known for helming The Killing and The Enfield Haunting.
Based on an original story that Hardy penned with his father, Chips Hardy, Taboo places the Mad Max: Fury Road star front and center as James Keziah Delaney, a rogue adventurer who gets in all manner of trouble upon returning to London from a 10-year stint in Africa. Situated in the year 1813, Nyholm’s episodic series sees Hardy’s lead return home with more than a dozen illicit diamonds but, after catching wind of his father’s death, refuses to sell the family business and instead sets about avenging his old man.
In terms of the newcomers, Game of Thrones alum Jonathan Pryce will step into the shoes of Sir Stuart Strange, the head of the East India Company and an adversary to Hardy’s Delaney. Kelly, meanwhile, will portray the American doctor Dumbarton. Finally, Chaplin will star as Delaney’s half-sister Zilpha, while Hayman is his loyal manservant Brace.
Filming is now underway for Tom Hardy’s Taboo, and with an international cast now in place, we expect the eight-episode drama to make its bow in late 2016.