Earlier this month, the BBC and MASTERPIECE PBS confirmed that filming was underway on Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s multi award-winning trilogy. We’re pleased to now confirm that production headquarters for the six-part series, which is filming on location across England and Wales, is based here at The Bottle Yard Studios, which also hosted the original Wolf Hall (2015) series.
Reuniting the creative team from the BAFTA and Golden Globe winning first series, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will be directed by seven-time BAFTA award winner Peter Kosminsky (The Undeclared War, The State), adapted for television by Academy award nominee Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Frank) and produced by Colin Callender’s Playground (The Undeclared War, All Creatures Great and Small) and Company Pictures (Van Der Valk, Blood).
Academy Award winner Mark Rylance returns to his BAFTA-winning role of Thomas Cromwell, with Emmy Award winner Damian Lewis returning as King Henry VIII, alongside Academy Award nominee Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Wolsey. Also returning are Kate Phillips as Henry VIII’s third wife Jane Seymour and Lilit Lesser as Princess Mary, the daughter of Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
Damian Lewis, Kate Phillips and Jonathan Pryce in Wolf Hall series one. Lilit Lesser (Image: Asia Werbel)
Harriet Walter (Killing Eve, Succession) joins the cast to play Lady Margaret Pole, with Timothy Spall (Mr Turner, Spencer) as the Duke of Norfolk and Harry Melling (The Pale Blue Eye, The Queen’s Gambit) as Thomas Wriothesley.
Harriet Walter, Timothy Spall (Image: Seb JJ Peters), and Harry Melling
Reprising their roles from Wolf Hall series one will be Thomas Brodie-Sangster (The Queen’s Gambit, The Maze Runner) as Rafe Sadler, Joss Porter (The Undeclared War, Humans) as Richard Cromwell, James Larkin (Black Mirror, McMafia) as Master Treasurer Fitzwilliam, Richard Dillane (Argo, Pennyworth) as the Duke of Suffolk, Will Keen (Operation Mincemeat, His Dark Materials) as Archbishop Cranmer, and Hannah Steele (The Night Manager, Black Mirror) as Mary Shelton.
Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Rafe Sadler and Joss Porter as Richard Cromwell in Wolf Hall series one (image: BBC)
Also joining Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light are Alex Jennings (The Crown, This Is Going to Hurt) as Stephen Gardiner, Maisie Richardson-Sellers (The Undeclared War, Legends of Tomorrow) as Bess Oughtred, Lydia Leonard (Gentleman Jack, The Fifth Estate) as Lady Jane Rochford, Charlie Rowe (Rocketman, Vanity Fair) as Gregory Cromwell, Corentin Fila (Being 17, Notre-Dame) as Christophe, Tom Mothersdale (Bodies, Culprits) as Richard Riche, Karim Kadjar, (Leave to Remain, Mike) as Eustache Chapuys, Lucy Russell (A Spy Among Friends, Atlantic Crossing) as Lady Anne Shelton, Will Tudor (Industry, The Ipcress File) as Edward Seymour, Viola Prettejohn (The Crown, The Nevers) as Mary Fitzroy, Thomas Arnold (A Spy Among Friends, War & Peace) as Hans Holbein, Jordan Kouamé (Malpractice, Dope Girls) as Martin The Gaoler, Agnes O’Casey (Lies We Tell, Ridley Road) as Lady Margaret Douglas, Cecilia Appiah (Hijack, The Chelsea Detective) as Nan Seymour, Ellie de Lange (The Serpent, Arcadia) as Jenneke, Hubert Burton (Living, Jekyll and Hyde) as Thomas Howard the Lesser, Pip Carter (Spectre,1917) as Sir Geoffrey Pole, Josef Altin (Top Boy, Game of Thrones) as Thomas Avery, Sarah Priddy (Degenerates, Six Years Gone) as Lady Margery Seymour, Hannah Khalique-Brown (Barbie, The Undeclared War) as Dorothea, Amir El-Masry (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, SAS Rogue Heroes) as Thomas Wyatt, German Segal (The Undeclared War, The Red Ghost) as Olisleger, Summer Richards (Wild Bill, When She Was Good) as Catherine Howard, and Dana Herfurth (Love Addicts, One Trillion Dollars) as Anne of Cleves.
Director Peter Kosminsky says: “Casting Director Robert Sterne has done a truly extraordinary job assembling the most stunning cast with which I’ve ever had the privilege to work. Led by Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, they’ve been drawn by the quality of Hilary Mantel’s writing and Peter Straughan’s adroit adaptation. Shooting in Tudor locations all over England and Wales, it is our privilege to bring Hilary’s last novel to an international television audience.”
May, 1536. Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, is dead. As the axe drops, Thomas Cromwell emerges from the bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, has no great family to back him, and no private army. Navigating the moral complexities that accompany the exercise of power in this brutal and bloody time, Cromwell is caught between his desire to do what is right and his instinct to survive. But in the wake of Henry VIII having executed his queen, no one is safe.
Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows.
The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?
Eagerly awaited and years in the making, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will trace the final four years of Cromwell’s life, completing his journey from self-made man to the most feared, influential figure of his time. Cromwell is as complex as he is unforgettable: a politician and a fixer, a diplomat and a father, a man who both defied and defined his age.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (6×60’) is a Playground and Company Pictures co-production for the BBC and MASTERPIECE. The series will be distributed internationally by Banijay Rights. The series is directed by Peter Kosminsky, adapted by Peter Straughan, and produced by Lisa Osborne. Executive Producers are Colin Callender and Noëlette Buckley for Playground, Peter Kosminsky, Lucy Richer for the BBC, and Susanne Simpson for MASTERPIECE.
The six-part series will air on BBC One and iPlayer in the UK. Series one is available to watch on BBC iPlayer in the UK and on the PBS MASTERPIECE Prime Video Channel in the US.