Homeland star Claire Danes will replace Keira Knightley in period drama The Essex Serpent, Apple has announced.
Knightley reportedly pulled out of the show due to concerns over childcare during the pandemic.
Danes, an Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Award winner, will now play the lead role in the Apple TV+ drama.
The US actress will star as the newly widowed Cora, who relocates from Victorian London to a small village in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature has returned to the area.
The Essex Serpent is based on Sarah Perry’s best-selling 2016 book and the series will be directed by Clio Barnard, with Anna Symon serving as lead writer.
Danes first found fame in 1994 teen drama series My So-Called Life.
She later starred opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann’s 1996 big screen adaptation of Romeo And Juliet.
Danes is perhaps best known for playing Carrie Mathison in drama series Homeland.
It is set to be partly filmed in Alresford.
The storyline of the Essex Serpent is set in the 1890s and it is understood modern boats will not be allowed to moor there during filming.
Frank Belgrove, chairman of the village’s parish council, has said Alresford Creek is an idyllic setting for film - ing as it is pretty much a timeless location.
It is understood the village has been chosen for some of the filming as it mirrors the countryside described by the novel’s author.
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