Kit Harrington, Paddy Considine and more join Channel 4’s gripping period drama ‘Army of Shadows’
Channel 4 thriller titled 'Army of Shadows' has scored some big names. America Ferrera (Barbie), Paddy Considine (House of the Dragon), Kit Harington (Game of Thrones), and Alex Hassell (Rivals) have joined the cast of this thriller drama. The show will consist of six episodes and is based on Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 film and Joseph Kessel’s book of the same name. The film and book dramatize the emergence of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of France in World War II. Both the Melville family and the Kessel estate, controlled by the Irish Red Cross, supported the series.
The Channel 4 show reimagines the resistance plot in occupied Great Britain. “Britain looks almost normal, but the flags are different, the news is careful, and nobody says certain things out loud anymore. But everyone can feel it,” the show's logline reads. “Somewhere beneath the surface of ordinary life, something has gone terribly, quietly wrong. Out of the shadows emerges a former soldier known only as Berry, who starts building a secret resistance network. He knows one thing above all else: don’t act before you’re ready. An unlikely group starts to coalesce around him — people who’ve decided they can’t look away any longer: a soldier, a student, a radiographer, a journalist. Ordinary people, with ordinary lives, making an extraordinary and irreversible choice.”
The group in question has to face off against a state with boundless influence, a ruthless minister who will cross any limits to get what they want, and an American intelligence operative named Jessie (Ferrera), who is exceptional in her job. The network describes 'Army of Shadows' as a “tense, propulsive thriller about what resistance actually costs… If your country were occupied, what would you do?” The series is already filming in locations such as Manchester, Liverpool, London, and Paris. BAFTA winner Ronan Bennett, known for his work in shows like 'MobLand,' has penned the script. Bennett is also working as an executive producer for the project.
Gwawr Lloyd, interim head of drama at Channel 4, called the series a “gripping, provocative and action-packed drama that feels both epic in scale and strikingly relevant.” He continued, “Army of Shadows asks powerful questions about freedom, resistance, and the choices people make when democracy is under threat. With a stellar cast lined up under the direction of Lisa Gunning, this is exactly the kind of thought-provoking and high-stakes drama that Channel 4 looks to bring to our viewers.” The series is a co-production between StudioCanal and Two Cities Television. Canal+ has commissioned the series for its global footprint spanning more than 50 countries across France, Europe, Africa, and Asia. StudioCanal will take responsibility for worldwide distribution and international sales.
Lloyd green-lit the series alongside Gemma Boswell and Rebecca Holdsworth, the drama commissioning editors at Channel 4. Paul Gilbert and M-K Kennedy serve as executive producers for Studiocanal Television. Ron Halpern and Joe Naftalin are in the same capacity through Studiocanal. Stephen Wright and Michael Jackson are billed as the EP for Two Cities Television. Alison Sterling is on board as the series producer. A release date has not yet been announced.
