Kit Harington Lands New Role At The Heart of Gunpowder Treason
By Ani Bundel
Kit Harington is working to move beyond Westeros before Jon Snow gets killed for good–this time at the heart of the famous 1605 Gunpowder Treason.
Fans of Kit Harington’s brooding Jon Snow rejoice. The actor, who has so far only had moderate success in finding projects to fit his super serious expressions, has managed once again to land a leading role that doesn’t include direwolves or dragons. Instead he’s heading into supposedly more realistic historical fiction territory.
BBC One announced yesterday that they are commissioning a new historical miniseries called Gunpowder, based on the famous plot in 1605 to blow up Parliament.
Check out the synopsis:
"“Every year on November 5 the English mark the discovery of the Gunpowder Plot in London in 1605 with bonfires and fireworks. It is often called Guy Fawkes Day because many people believe – erroneously – that the plot was devised by Guy Fawkes. However, while Fawkes played a pivotal role, the man who dreamed up the plot and was its driving force was Robert Catesby (Harington), a 30-year old Warwickshire gentleman.”"
The three part series will also star Mark Gatiss, lately of Doctor Who and Sherlock, as well as Peter Mullan from Top of the Lake and Liv Tyler, who must’ve decided that Lord of the Rings money was running out.
From the press release:
"“The Gunpowder Plot is one of the best known stories in Britain and most people are aware of the basic facts. But what Ronan has achieved with his page-turning script, and what I hope Kit and Peter and the rest of the magnificent cast will do, is to take the BBC One audience behind the story, into the people, the passion and the politics. This will be a hugely engaging drama with a fascinating contemporary resonance, showing the consequences of what can happen when a religious minority is persecuted.”"
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While British children grown up with Guy Fawkes night celebrating the failure of the plot to come off every November 5th, and singing little rhymes about it, Americans mostly know Guy Fawkes from the V for Vendetta movie, and the internet group Anonymous using the Fawkes mask as their symbol. Hopefully PBS will pick up the series for this side of the pong, and Kit Harington can finally teach us something that he knows better than we do.