Production has started on the Starz event miniseries, The White Princess, and Starz has announced the full cast for the highly-anticipated follow-up to The White Queen.
The White Queen was riveting stuff. Its tale of three key women involved in the Wars of the Roses made for appointment viewing when it premiered in 2013, and the miniseries was nominated for both a Golden Globe® and Primetime Emmy® in 2014.
Now filming has started in Bristol and other parts of the UK on its follow-up — The White Princess — the new eight-part Starz Original Limited Series adapted from Philippa Gregory’s bestselling novel of the same name, Book 5 of the six-title “The Cousins’ War” book series.
The White Princess concludes the story of the Wars of the Roses and follows the rise of the House of Tudor. Like The White Queen, it charts one of the most tumultuous times in British history from the point of view of the women who waged the ongoing battle for the English throne.
The White Princess opens in 1485, after Princess Elizabeth, daughter of “The White Queen,” has been pledged in (forced into) marriage to the newly-anointed King Henry VII, in the hopes that their union will bring peace to a war-torn country. While England is ostensibly united, the personal and political rift between Elizabeth and Henry runs deep, and their tempestuous marriage threatens to tear the kingdom apart once again.
What’s more, rumors are circulating that Princess Elizabeth’s long-lost brother, Prince Richard, is alive and planning to take the throne. Now she must choose between being a Tudor wife and a York princess, and between her new husband and the boy who claims to be her own blood and the true heir to the crown.
Loyalties blur and families find themselves on opposing sides as the House of Tudor tries to cement its rule over an increasingly fragmented empire, where loyalty is a scarce commodity and the fear of betrayal is ever-present.
Starring in the title role of The White Princess, as Princess Elizabeth of the House of York, is Jodie Comer (Thirteen, Doctor Foster, My Mad Fat Diary). Playing the paranoid Henry VII of the House of Tudor is (relative) newcomer Jacob Collins-Levy (Glitch, Holding the Man).
Essie Davis (Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries, The Babadook) costars as Princess Elizabeth’s mother, the Dowager Queen Elizabeth, aka “The White Queen,” an indomitable strategist and unwavering supporter of the York cause. Even after the death of her husband King Edward IV and the fall of the House of York from the throne, her faith in York’s eventual return to power is sustained by the boy she believes to be Prince Richard, her last surviving son and the only genuine challenger to King Henry’s royal claim.
Joanne Whalley (Beowulf, The Borgias) portrays the widowed Duchess of Burgundy — Elizabeth of York’s aunt, sister to deceased English Kings Richard III and Edward IV, and a sensual, intelligent York woman who presides over her cultured court across the English Channel.
Michelle Fairley (Game of Thrones, Rebellion) plays Margaret Beaufort, Henry VII’s mother — a philanthropist, benefactor for the Church, and the calculating mastermind behind Henry’s ascent to the Throne of England. She understands that winning the throne and keeping it safe for the Tudor line are two different things, and works to fortify King Henry’s rule, as York rivals continue to plot against them.
Suki Waterhouse (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Insurgent) features as Cecily of York, Princess Elizabeth’s self-absorbed and jealous younger sister, with Rebecca Benson (The Crown, Shetland) playing their cousin Margaret Plantagenet, a reluctant member of the York clan because of the precarious political position it puts her and her brother in at the Tudor court.
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Rounding out the cast are Rhys Connah (Happy Valley) as Teddy; Caroline Goodall (The White Queen), who reprises her role as Duchess Cecily; Kenneth Cranham (Rome) as Bishop Morton; and Vincent Regan (The Royals) as Jasper Tudor.
A production of Company Pictures and Playground, The White Princess is produced by Lachlan MacKinnon (Burton and Taylor, Silent Witness) and Jamie Payne (The White Queen, The Driver), who also directs. The Executive Producers are Emma Frost (The White Queen, The Man in the High Castle), who also serves as showrunner; Philippa Gregory; Colin Callender (The White Queen, Wolf Hall) and Scott Huff (The Dresser, The Missing) for Playground; and Michele Buck (Inspector Lewis, Endeavour) for Company Pictures.
The White Princess will air on Starz in 2017. Stay tuned for updates.
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