Posted in: Apple, TV | Tagged: apple tv, Claire Danes, Sarah Perry, streaming, The Essex Serpent, tom hiddleston, victorian gothic
The Essex Serpent Trailer: Hiddleston, Danes Series Debuts This May
Apple TV+ released a full trailer today for The Essex Serpent, the eagerly-awaited TV miniseries adaptation of the feminist Victorian-era gothic romance novel by Sarah Perry. The series stars Claire Danes and everybody's favourite Loki. Tom Hiddleston. The Essex Serpent will premiere globally with the first two episodes on Friday, May 13, 2022, followed by one new episode weekly every Friday through June 10.
Set in Victorian England and featuring a star-studded cast led by Danes, Hiddleston, Frank Dillane, Clémence Poésy, and Hayley Squires, The Essex Serpent follows London widow Cora Seaborne (Danes) who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. She forms a surprising bond of science and skepticism with the local pastor (Hiddleston), but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature. Themes of Science vs. Superstition, emotional freedom vs. repression, Danes' Cora represents scientific progress and emotional expression while Hiddleston represents faith and their simmering sexual tension becomes externalized in the townsfolks' fear and superstition about the mysterious, mythical Essex serpent they believe haunts their waters. It's all very Freudian and very English. Sarah Perry had written a pitch-perfect pastiche of a Bronte-esque Victorian literary romance. The book put Perry on the literary map and her subsequent novels are now events to watch.
The Essex Serpent is directed by BAFTA Award nominee Clio Barnard and written by BAFTA Award nominee Anna Symon. Barnard and Symon also serve as executive producers alongside Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Iain Canning, Emile Sherman, and Patrick Walters. The series is produced for Apple TV+ by See-Saw Films. They really want us to know that the cast and crew are full of award-nominees in front of and behind the camera. This is the show to watch if you want to watch Danes and Hiddleston emoting their hearts out.
The Essex Serpent is being touted as a major TV event. Apple TV+ is fast becoming a prestige streaming service, favouring quality over quantity, and its Oscar win for Coda might prove it's paying off. Now, if they decide to adapt Sarah Perry's next novel, the even more gothic Melmoth, that would be something.
The Essex Serpent begins streaming on Apple TV+ on May 13th.