Posted in: Game Of Thrones, TV | Tagged: British western, david tennant, doctor who, Empire of Dirt, game of thrones, HBO, Kit Harrington, netflix, Top Boy

Game of Thrones Star Kit Harington Developing "Very British Western"

Game of Thrones star Kit Harington is developing Empire of Dirt, "a very British Western," which probably sounds funnier than it should.

Kit Harington isn't just sitting around waiting for his Game of Thrones spinoff about Jon Snow (which we still hope will be a sitcom entitled You Know Nothing, Jon Snow! – come on, it writes itself!). He's keeping busy, producing Empire of Dirt, a TV thriller he describes as a "very British Western," about a lone man who returns to his hometown to discover his family is running a drugs racket, as one does. Isn't that every third family in Britain these days? The Cost of Living Crisis is hitting everyone hard over there, yo!

According to Deadline, Empire of Dirt is the working title, and the series is being produced by Harington and Netflix series Top Boy writer Daniel West's Thriker Films with New Pictures. Harington is probably going to play the lead, but it's too soon to talk about casting. The eight-part thriller follows Jake, a big name in the big city who reluctantly returns to his family farm in the Lake District for a distant cousin's wedding. He hasn't been home for 15 years but, following a tragic accident, finds himself the unwilling head of his family before discovering the unthinkable – that his father had been running a multimillion-pound drugs racket from a hidden corner of his family land, as often happens.

Harington and West said the show, which is part-funded and distributed by associate developer All3Media International, is a "very British Western, set against the Lake District's stunning visual backdrop."

"The Galloways are a family fighting to survive, wrestling with their identity, trauma, and the burden of inheritance, as ancient traditions collide with the mores of modern Britain," they added.

New Pictures CEO Willow Grylls said the show is "thrilling, dangerous, and fun, but always with a searing emotional core."

You know, when you say "a very British Western," it conjures up the image of British people alternating between being terribly embarrassed and apologising to each other a lot or swearing at each other, not Game of Thrones.

All3Media-owned New Pictures' recent credits, meanwhile, include the ITV hit Des, where David Tennant played a real-life serial killer (and not even for the first time, and no, we don't mean Doctor Who, though you could argue the point…), George Kay's The Long Shadow and BBC/Netflix musical drama series Champion.

Empire of Dirt was developed in association with All3Media International, which is distributing. It's eight episodes, which means they hope to sell it to streamers like Netflix. It's safe to assume Harington will not be dressing up like a medieval sword-swinging warrior like in Game of Thrones, but given the way the UK is going, it wouldn't be out of place at all.

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