Masterpiece and BBC begin production on Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light

Masterpiece PBS and the BBC will begin production on Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, an adaptation of the final novel in Hilary Mantel's award-winning trilogy. Mark Rylance (pictured bottom left) will reprise his role as Thomas Cromwell, while Damian Lewis (pictured bottom right) returns as King Henry VIII. Also returning are Jonathan Pryce (Game of Thrones) as Cardinal Wolsey, Kate Phillips (Hijack) as Henry VIII's third wife Jane Seymour and Lilit Lesser (The Frankenstein Chronicles) as Princess Mary, the daughter of Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon.



Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light volgt de laatste vier jaar van Cromwell's leven en voltooit zijn reis van selfmade man tot de meest gevreesde, invloedrijke figuur van zijn tijd. Meer terugkerende en nieuwe castleden worden later aangekondigd.

Mantel died last year at the age of 70, and director Peter Kosminsky said at the time that The Mirror and the Light would continue as a "memorial" to the celebrated British author. The previous two books in the trilogy, Wolf Hall and Bring up the Bodies, were adapted into one 2015 series by Masterpiece and the BBC.

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is directed by Kosminsky (The State (2017), The Promise), adapted for television by Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and produced by Playground (All Creatures Great and Small (2020), The Undeclared War) and Company Pictures (Detective Van der Valk).

“The Mirror and the Light picks up exactly where Wolf Hall ended, with the execution of Henry VIII’s second wife, Anne Boleyn,” said Kosminsky. “I’m overjoyed to be able to reunite the extraordinary cast we were lucky enough to assemble for Wolf Hall, led by the brilliant Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, with the original creative team of Gavin Finney (DOP), Pat Campbell (Designer) and Joanna Eatwell (Costume Designer). We are all determined to complete what we started – and to honour the final novel written by one of the greatest literary figures of our age, Hilary Mantel.”

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is a co-production by Playground and Company Pictures for the BBC and Masterpiece. The series is distributed internationally by Banijay Rights. The series is directed by Kosminsky, edited by Peter Straughan and produced by Lisa Osborne.

Executive producers are Colin Callender and Noëlette Buckley for Playground, Kosminsky, Lucy Richer for the BBC and Susanne Simpson for Masterpiece.