“The Crown” may have ended last year, but Netflix has another royal drama in store.
The streamer has released the first trailer for “Scoop,” its feature-length dramatization of Prince Andrew‘s toe-curling interview with “Newsnight” anchor Emily Maitlis.
Maitlis is played by Gillian Anderson in the film, while Andrew is played by “The Diplomat” star Rufus Sewell. Keeley Hawes is also on board as Amanda Thirsk, Andrew’s former private secretary and Billie Piper stars as Sam McAlister, the “Newsnight” producer who secured the interview with Andrew and on whose book (called “Scoops”) the film is based.
Andrew’s interview with Maitlis in November 2019 was dubbed a “car crash” after the British royal, who settled a sexual assault suit with Virginia Guiffre two years ago, said he had no regrets about his friendship with convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. He also failed to express any sympathy for Epstein’s victims and gave farcical reasons for why he could not have had sex with Guiffre, including that he had lost the ability to sweat and was in a Woking branch of chain restaurant Pizza Express on the night she claims they first met through Epstein.
The fallout from the interview led to Andrew stepping back from his public duties and he was eventually stripped of his military titles and patronages by his mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
McAlister published her account of booking the interview in 2022 and it was immediately optioned for screen adaptation, with The Lighthouse and Voltage producing the film.
Maitlis is also developing an adaptation of the interview with Blueprint Pictures for Amazon, starring Michael Sheen and Ruth Wilson.
“Scoop” drops on Netflix on April 5.
