This afternoon History, A&E and Lifetime have partnered with The Weinstein Co. and the BBC for their six-part limited series of the Leo Tolstoy classic novel War and Peace. The series, expected to premiere later this year, will air on all three networks simultaneously, an approach the A+E Networks are also using for their just announced miniseries remake of Roots.
Described as one of the most ambitious event series ever made for the BBC, War and Peace features a cast led by Lily James (Cinderella) as the romantic and impulsive Natasha Rostova and Paul Dano (12 Years a Slave) as the socially awkward but noble Pierre Bezukhov.
The cast also includes Gillian Anderson, James Norton, Jim Broadbent, Rebecca Front, Kenneth Cranham, Aneurin Barnard, Tuppence Middleton, Callum Turner, Stephen Rea, Ade Edmondson, Greta Scacchi, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, Jack Lowden, Tom Burke, Aisling Loftus and Jessie Buckley.
Tolstoy's novel begins in 1805 Russia and revolves around five aristocratic families set against the backdrop of the reign of Alexander I, the lingering effects of his grandmother Catherine the Great's rule and the events surrounding Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812.
The miniseries is produced by The Weinstein Co., BBC Cymru Wales and BBC Worldwide/Lookout Point. Andrew Davies (House of Cards) is writing the adaptation, with Tom Harper set to direct. Executive producers are Davies, Faith Penhale, Simon Vaughn, Harvey Weinstein and Robert Walak.
