Netflix's six-part Pride and Prejudice has a trailer, a stacked cast led by Olivia Colman and a Dec. 3 premiere. Dolly Alderton wrote it, Euros Lyn directs.
Olivia Colman is Mrs. Bennet, and if that doesn’t clear your calendar for Dec. 3, the rest of the cast list might. The new Pride and Prejudice series from Netflix has a trailer, first-look photos and a premiere date, and the Bennets have never had a guest list like this one.
The headline pairing is Emma Corrin (The Crown, Black Mirror) as Elizabeth Bennet and Jack Lowden (Slow Horses, The Rings of Power) as Mr. Darcy. Corrin, fresh from a dreamy 2022 turn in Lady Chatterley’s Lover, also picks up a first executive producer credit on this one. Rufus Sewell plays Mr. Bennet opposite Colman, which means the Bennet marriage is in very good hands.
Everyone’s at Longbourn
The Bennet sisters are all accounted for. Freya Mavor (Industry) is Jane, and Daryl McCormack plays the charming Mr. Bingley she falls for. Rhea Norwood, of Heartstopper, is Lydia. Mary and Kitty go to Hopey Parish and Hollie Avery, both making their screen debuts.
The supporting bench is where it gets fun. Jamie Demetriou, of Stath Lets Flats, is Mr. Collins. Louis Partridge takes on Mr. Wickham. Siena Kelly plays Caroline Bingley. Fiona Shaw is Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Anjana Vasan and Sebastian Armesto are the Gardiners, and Isabella Sermon is Georgiana Darcy. Justin Edwards, formerly of The Thick of It, is Sir William Lucas, with Rosie Cavaliero as Lady Lucas.
The story is the one you know. Wealthy bachelors arrive in the neighborhood. Five sisters have futures to secure. Jane and Bingley hit it off, while Elizabeth clashes with Bingley’s proud friend. Unexpected encounters and family scandals push her to reconsider her feelings and figure out what love is actually about.
The people behind the pages
The series comes from Dolly Alderton, the bestselling author and screenwriter who made her name with the 2018 debut Everything I Know About Love. Euros Lyn, the director behind Heartstopper, helms all six episodes. Alderton revealed the first look at the characters at the Jane Austen Festival in Bath, England, and announced the date there too, which is about as on-brand as a reveal gets.
Lookout Point is the production company. Alderton and Lyn executive produce with Laura Lankester, Will Johnston and Louise Mutter, plus Corrin. Lisa Osborne, whose credits include Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, produces.
Why bother, again?
Fair question for a book that has been adapted many times over. Netflix’s own answer is that Pride and Prejudice is Austen’s most widely read novel and has helped define the romance genre. Alderton’s answer is more personal. “Once in a generation, a group of people get to retell this wonderful story, and I feel very lucky that I get to be a part of it,” she says.
She calls the novel “the blueprint for romantic comedy” and says it’s “packed with drama and depth as well as comedy and charm.” Her aim is to find “both familiar and fresh ways” of bringing it to life while “aspiring to Austen’s delightfully observational voice.” She’s writing for two audiences: people who count it as their favorite book, and those “yet to meet their Lizzy and Mr. Darcy.”
Netflix executive Mona Qureshi, speaking when the project was first announced, called the story “the ultimate romantic comedy.” She said Alderton’s “fierce intelligence and enormous heart” and her love of the novel let her “bring new insights, whilst celebrating all that the generations of fans hold so dear.”
Corrin keeps it simple. “Playing Elizabeth Bennet is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” they say, adding that they “can’t wait for a new generation to fall in love with this story all over again.”
The trailer is out now, and the full series lands Dec. 3. Set aside six episodes, and decide in advance how you’ll react when Darcy first walks into the room.
Via Netflix Tudum
