'The English Game': Release date, cast, plot, trailer, and everything you need to know about upcoming Netflix football drama
Fans of 'Downton Abbey' can finally rejoice even though the drama is coming to an end this year. Why? Because the show's writer Julian Fellowes is busy creating his new Netflix show 'The English Game,' and it's all sorts of extravagant! With the show expected to hit the streaming network in just a year's time, 'The English Game' promises a wide ensemble cast in a story focusing on the origins of football, all the way back in the 1800s.
Release date:
'The English Game' will drop on Netflix on Friday, March 20, 2020.
Plot:
The official synopsis of 'The English Game' as revealed by Netflix states that the six-part drama will focus on the origins of football. The drama is also set to explore how the people involved in the creation of the sport, aimed at transcending the game beyond the barriers of class to establish it as the world's more popular sport.
In an interview with iNews, Fellowes shared, “There’s this extraordinary anomaly that football, originally devised by public schoolboys at Eton, to be played by their own rules, becomes this game that dominates the world. As the game spread, it becomes less tenable that the Etonians could reserve football for themselves. The clubs that rise in the industrial Midlands and the North become the true representatives of the game.”
Director:
The series will be directed by Happy Valley’s Tim Fywell and Birgitte Stærmose. Fywell made his first feature debut with 'I Capture the Castle,' and the first Hollywood feature he directed was 'Ice Princess' starring Michelle Trachtenberg, in 2005. Stærmose is a Danish film director, whose award-winning shorts have screened at prestigious festivals (Sundance, New Directors/New Films, Berlin, Rotterdam) and have earned her the EFA Best Short Film nomination, twice.
Writer:
Julian Fellowes is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords. He is also very popular as the author of several Sunday Times best-seller novels and for the screenplay for the film 'Gosford Park', which won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2002. Fellowes' most popular work so far has been as the creator, writer and executive producer of the multiple award-winning ITV series 'Downton Abbey' that ran from 2010 to 2015, and is now being turned into a film for its massive fanbase.
Cast:
Even though Netflix recently announced the full cast of 'The English Game,' the streaming giant hasn't revealed what roles these actors will be playing on the show.
Edward Holcroft was one of the first names announced from the cast. The British film, television, and stage actor is best known for his works in his roles in the Kingsman film franchise and in the television series 'Wolf Hall' (2015), 'London Spy' (2015), and 'Alias Grace' (2017).
Holcroft will be joined by Scottish actor Kevin Guthrie, who is known for playing the role of Ally in 'Sunshine on Leith' (2013) and Ewan in Terence Davies's 2015 film 'Sunset Song.' The other familiar face joining the cast will be Charlotte Hope, who will be recognized by 'Game of Thrones' fans as Myranda - the lover of Ramsay Bolton.
Other cast members include Line of Duty’s Craig Parkinson, The Victim’s James Harkness and Shameless’ Gerard Kearns, along with Sam Keeley, Daniel Ings, Henry Lloyd Hughes, Ben Batt, Harry Michell and Anthony Andrews. Jamestown’s Niamh Walsh, Downton Abbey’s Joncie Elmore and Game of Thrones’ Kate Dickie also star alongside Kate Philips and Sylvestra Le Touzel.
Trailer:
Take a peek at the history and origin of English football right here:
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