“Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light,” based on the final novel in Hilary Mantel’s trilogy, will begin filming in the United Kingdom soon, according to Masterpiece, PBS and the BBC. Oscar winner Mark Rylance is back as Thomas Cromwell, joined by Emmy winner Damian Lewis returning as King Henry VII and Oscar nominee Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Wolsey.
Kate Phillips will also reprise her role as Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, and Lilit Lesser is Princess Mary, the daughter of Henry and his first wife Catherine of Aragon.
Per the release, “Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light” will follow “the final four years of Cromwell’s life, completing his journey from self-made man to the most feared, influential figure of his time.”
“Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light” is directed by Peter Kominsky, adapted by Peter Straughan and produced by Lisa Osborne. The series is executive produced by Colin Callender and Noëlette Buckley for Playground, Kosminsky, Lucy Richer for the BBC and Susanne Simpson for Masterpiece.
Masterpiece is presented on PBS by GBH Boston. Banijay Rights will distribute the series internationally.
In other TV roundup news:
FIRST LOOKS
HBO documentary series “Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, & Reckoning” has released a trailer.
Produced in association with The Boston Globe, the three-part documentary centers on the aftermath of the 1989 Boston case in which Charles “Chuck” Stuart called the police, falsely alleging that his pregnant wife, Carol Stuart, was murdered by a Black man. The incident made headlines, contributing to increased racial hatred of the Black community and aggressive police tactics within Boston’s Mission Hill neighborhood.
“Thoughtfully braiding extensive archive coverage of the incident, the years leading up to it, and its aftermath, with more than a dozen present-day interviews of people affected at the time including residents, community members, journalists who covered the case, Bennett family members, city officials and a retired Boston police officer, ‘Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage, & Reckoning’ chronicles the complex history of race-basedhostilities in the city, which exploded with the desegregation of schools and the Garrity busing ruling of 1974,” reads the series description.
Jason Hehir serves as director and producer. Jake Rogal, Nicholas Eisenberg,Jillian Moossmann serve as producers, along with executive producer Joie Jacoby. Executive producers forThe Boston Globe are Linda Pizzuti Henry and Dan Krockmalnic. Executive producers for HBO are Nancy Abraham, Lisa Heller and Sara Rodriguez.
The first episode of “Murder in Boston: Roots, Rampage & Reckoning” premieres Dec. 4 on HBO, streaming on Max. New episodes drop weekly on Mondays.
Watch the trailer below.
PROGRAMMING
Canela Media has launched an after show for its reality series “Secretos De Villanas.” “Secretos El Aftershow” premieres Nov. 23 on Fridays following “Secretos de Villanas” through Dec. 29.
Each after show episode will feature an interview with one of the actresses and executive producer and host Enrique Sapene. The conversations will delve into topics beyond what is featured in the show. Verizon will have category exclusive presence for “Secretos El Aftershow” and is the exclusive presenting sponsor. In addition to Sapene highlighting Verizon’s “myPlan” on the show, the integration will also include feature deals for those watching.
“Secretos de Villanas” brings telenovela villains together — Laura Zapata, Cynthia Klitbo, Aylin Mujica, Sabine Moussier, Geraldine Bazán and Sarah Mintz — on a luxurious vacation to a villa in British Columbia. The latest season premiered on Oct. 26. Sapene and Rubén Consuegra, who serves as showrunner at River Waves Production, executive produce “Secretos de Villanas.”
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The Hallmark Channel’s primetime family drama series “The Way Home” has announced that its second season will premiere Jan. 21.
The series follows three generations of women in the Landry family, Kat Landry (Chyler Leigh), Kat’s mother, Del (Andie MacDowell) and Kat’s 15-year-old daughter, Alice (Sadie Laflamme-Snow). Season one saw Kat and Alice returning to Kat’s hometown after tragedy strikes. Upon moving back, Alice discovers she can travel between the past and the present, spurring mother and daughter to try and change the past.
Neshama Entertainment and MarVista Entertainment produce. Heather Conkie, Alexandra Clarke, Fernando Szew, Hannah Pillemer, Larry Grimaldi, Ani Kevork, Arnie Zipursky, Marly Reed, Suzanne Berger, MacDowell and Leigh serve as executive producers, with John Calvert as producer and Mitch Geddes as executive in charge of production.
“We all fell in love with the Landry women and their complex, emotional story and are thrilled that it resonated so strongly with viewers,” said Laurie Ferneau, senior vice president of development at Hallmark Media.“We can’t wait for fans to continue this journey, which is filled with more heartfelt drama, emotion and mystery – season two does not disappoint.”
SPECIALS
CBS has revealed that country musician Mickey Guyton will host the holiday special “National Christmas Tree Lighting,” which broadcasts on Friday, Dec. 15 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. Viewers can find it airing on CBS or stream it on Paramount+.
Presented by the National Park Service and the National Park Foundation, the event will include performances from a wide range of artists including Darren Criss, Samara Joy, Ledisi, Reneé Rapp, St. Vincent, Joe Walsh and Dionne Warwick, as they present their renditions of classic holiday songs. Guyton will perform as well.
The special includes the lighting of the National Christmas Tree on the Ellipse at The White House and President’s Park in Washington, D.C. The United States Coast Guard’s Guardians Big Band will also perform. The ceremony takes place ahead of the broadcast on Nov. 30.
The event is produced by White Rose Way Entertainment. It is executive produced by Kristi Foley and Leon Knoles, and produced by Renato Basile. Knoles also serves as director.
DATES
“Ricky Gervais: Armageddon” will be available to stream on Netflix on Christmas day.
“For the next 2000 years people will remember the 25th December as the day ‘Armageddon’ was released on Netflix,” Gervais stated.
His new stand-up special tackles “the end of humanity, political correctness, family weddings, funerals and Artificial Intelligence,” per the release. “Armageddon” marks Gervais’ third Netflix stand-up special, following 2018’s “Humanity” and 2022’s “SuperNature,” which reached the Netflix Top 10 in 13 countries. His series “Afterlife” is also available exclusively on the streamer.
Gervais’ “Armageddon” world tour broke several world records, with his biggest ever stand-up show at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl entering the Guinness World Records. He played 85 sold-out arena dates across the globe.
“Ricky Gervais: Armageddon” is directed by John L. Spencer and produced by Derek Productions. It was recorded at the London Palladium earlier this year.
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Showtime has announced that the upcoming six-episode drama series “The Woman in the Wall’ is slated to premiere on Jan. 19 on Paramount+ with the streamer’s Showtime plan, before debuting on air on Jan. 21 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.
The series stars Ruth Wilson, who also executive produces, and Daryl McCormack. Per the show’s description, “The Woman in the Wall” centers on Lorna Brady (Wilson), a woman from the small, fictional Irish town of Kilkinure, who wakes one morning to find a corpse in her house. Chillingly, Lorna has no idea who the dead woman is or if she, herself, might be responsible for the apparent murder.”
The description continues, “That’s because Lorna has long suffered from extreme bouts of sleepwalking ever since she was ripped from her life at the age of 15 and incarcerated in The Kilkinure Convent, a (fictional) home to one of Ireland’s infamous Magdalene Laundries for women. There, Lorna gave birth to her daughter Agnes, who cruelly was taken from her and whose fate Lorna never has known.”
McCormack stars as Detective Colman, who is tracking Lorna for a crime that doesn’t seem to be connected to the corpse. The rest of the cast includes Simon Delaney, Philippa Dunne, Mark Huberman, Hilda Fay, Frances Tomelty and Dermot Crowley.
“The Woman in the Wall” is produced by Motive Pictures for Showtime and the BBC. The series is created and written by Joe Murtagh. Executive producers include Simon Maxwell, Sam Lavender, Murtagh, Wilson and Harry Wootliff.
DEVELOPMENT
CreativeChaos has acquired the rights to Klementyna Suchanow’s nonfiction Polish bestseller “This Is War: Women, Fundamentalists and the New Middle Ages.”
Tom Donahue and Ilan Arboleda will adapt Suchanow’s book into a four-part docuseries that follows Suchanow’s transformation from author to activist in a trial for actions against the Polish government. With the help of an international network of journalists and activists, Suchanow will expose a fundamentalist global effort to destroy human rights and turn the world’s democracies into authoritarian regimes.
Suchanow cofounded the Polish Women’s Strike and embarked on an eight years long mission as she scrutinized a network of traditionalist-conservative organizations throughout Europe, Latin America, Africa and the United States. The series will explore how those groups are infiltrated by Kremlin agents and the Russian Institute for Strategic Studies — which were both weapons of interference in the 2016 U.S. elections.
The unnamed project will be executive produced by Donahue, Arboleda, co creator Jan Swietlik and Suchanow, who will also pen the series.
EXECUTIVE NEWS
Universal Studio Group has announced that Marianne Goode has been appointed senior vice president, music creative services. Goode will report to Mark Binke, executive vice president of product operations for UCP, as well as Jerry DiCanio, production operations for Universal Television.
Goode will helm the entirety of the company’s music creative services, which includes licensing for Universal Television, UCP, Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal International Studios. Her position also entails overseeing promotional music services for NBCUniversal’s networks, including NBC, USA, SyFy, Bravo, E!, Universal Kids, CNBC, MSNBC and Oxygen.
“I’m thrilled to join USG and for the opportunity to lead the exceptionally talented Creative Music Services team,” said Goode. “Throughout my career, I’ve been fortunate to work across a broad spectrum of the music industry. It’s been an exciting and rewarding journey that has led me here. I’m excited to work with USG’s incredible roster, NBCU’s stellar networks and the production teams overseen by Mark and Jerry.”
RATINGS
“NCIS: Sydney,” the first international expansion of the “NCIS” franchise, has become Australia’s most-watched local series since the Paramount+ launch in Australia.
The series was originally developed for Network 10 and Paramount+ in Australia. It debuted on Paramount+ Australia on Nov. 10 and then on the CBS Television Network on Nov. 14, with the series premiere reaching viewership highs on both linear and streaming.
The premiere episode is approaching 10 million viewers on CBS and Paramount+ in the U.S., setting milestones as the top new show of the TV season and the most-streamed CBS Network series premiere ever on Paramount+. Airing on Global, “NCIS: Sydney” is the top scripted series in Canada this season and third series overall.
New episodes drop weekly on Fridays on Paramount+ Australia. They air Tuesday nights at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the CBS Television Network, also streaming live and on demand on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on Global and StackTV in Canada.
“NCIS: Sydney” is produced by Endemol Shine Australia for CBS Studios and Paramount Australia. Paramount Global Content Distribution distributes the series outside Australia. Morgan O’Neill created the series, which he executive produces with Endemol Shine Australia’s Sara Richardson and Sue Seeary.
