Netflix‘s upcoming “Pride and Prejudice” series adaptation may well have found its Mr. Darcy.
Variety hears that Jack Lowden is currently in talks to the play the famously aloof romantic hero, one of the literary world’s most iconic characters whose tumultuous relationship with Elizabeth Bennet is at the core of Jane Austen’s 1813 novel. Netflix wouldn’t comment on the casting news.
First unveiled last year, Netflix’s “Pride and Prejudice” series is being penned by “Everything I Know About Love” author Dolly Alderton. No casting has been formally announced, although there were early and unconfirmed rumors in the British press that Daisy Edgar-Jones had been tapped to play Elizabeth Bennet.
Best known for his lead role in the Apple TV+ spy series “Slow Horses” — for which he’s earned Emmy, Golden Globes and BAFTA TV nominations — Lowden has also appeared in period drama “War and Peace” on the small screen, and features including “Dunkirk,” “Mary Queen of Scots” and “Benediction.”
If the casting comes through, Lowden joins an impressive lineup of stars to have stepped into Darcy’s brogues on screen. Matthew Macfadyen famously played the character in Joe Wright’s Oscar-nominated 2005 feature opposite Keira Knightley, while the BBC’s 1995 series catapulted Colin Firth to mainstream fame. Greats including Peter Cushing and Laurence Olivier have also played Darcy over the course of the last century.
Netflix has a history with Austen, having adapted “Persuasion” for a 2022 movie starring Dakota Johnson and directed by Carrie Cracknell.
“Slow Horses” Season 5 is expected to release this year, with Apple TV+ having already commissioned a sixth. Lowden is also set to star in Duncan Jones’ sci-fi feature “Rogue Trooper” and comedy drama “Ella McCay” alongside Emma Mackey, Woody Harrelson and Jamie Lee Curtis.
From Variety US