If you want more Kit Harington post-Game of Thrones season 7, you’ve got it: behold the BBC mini-series Gunpowder, a three-part historical drama produced by BBC1 and Kit Harington’s production company, Thriker Films. It will air on BBC One in a primetime Saturday night slot this fall (no exact date has been announced yet), and also includes Game of Thrones alumni Mark Gatiss (Iron Banker Tyco Nestoris). Other notable cast members include Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings) and Peter Mullan (Top of the Lake).
The three-part historical drama is a cat-and-mouse thriller, and the BBC has already given us a gorgeous first-look trailer, below.
Gunpowder tells the story of the famous early 17th century ‘Gunpowder Plot,’ a failed assassination attempt on the king of England. Actor Tom Cullen (Downton Abby) plays the role of conspirator Guy Fawkes, while Kit Harington takes on the part of mastermind Robert Catesby, a Warwickshire gentleman. Liv Tyler plays Catesby’s cousin Anne Vaux. Mark Gatiss serves plays antagonist (or protagonist, depending on which side you’re on) Robert Cecil, the King’s spymaster.
In November of 1605, Robert Catesby organized a conspiracy of provincial English Catholics against King James I. Guy Fawkes joined Catesby and his co-conspirators in their plan to blow up the British House of Lords and assassinate the King while he was attendance. Obviously, they were unsuccessful, but the English have long celebrated the event on Guy Fawkes Night every 5th of November, with accompanying fireworks. (They celebrate the fact that the plot failed). The event inspired many poems and rhymes, such as the first few lines of this 1742 work described by Ronald Hutton in his book Stations of the Sun:
"Don’t you Remember,The Fifth of November,‘Twas Gunpowder Treason Day …"
Kit Harington has a true-life connection to the gunpowder plot and the character he plays. Kit’s full name is Christopher Catesby Harrington, and the real Robert Catesby is his maternal ancestor. Perhaps this explains Harington’s interest in the project. Also, while Harington and Mark Gatiss are both Game of Thrones alumni, they (as Jon Snow and Tyco Nestoris) have never had a scene together—perhaps the two will get to share one here.
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The show promises to be quite dark and grim, and Harington excels at that. Drenched in mystery, treachery and historical drama, Gunpowder looks like its gonna be a blast.
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