In case you somehow weren’t already aware, Game Of Thrones will end after its eighth season, which is probably coming sometime next year. That conclusion will have virtually the same effect on HBO’s ratings as it will your Sunday nights—leave them utterly devoid of meaning. And so the premium-cable network is trying to retain some of that magic by snapping up a limited series starring Jon Snow himself, Kit Harington. As Deadline reports, HBO has picked up the BBC One drama Gunpowder, which is based on the real-life events that led to the establishing of Guy Fawkes Day.
The three-part miniseries, which is already airing on BBC One, stars Harington as Robert Catesby, who helped spark the Gunpowder Plot in London in 1605. Catesby was a devout Catholic who tried to thwart Protestant rule, which led him to the “edge of financial, social and psychological ruin.” Harington is actually a descendant of Catesby’s, which might explain why he was ultimately not cast as Fawkes himself, but rather, the mastermind of the blow-up-Parliament-scheme. Downton Abbey and Orphan Black’s Tom Cullen will play Guy Fawkes in the series, Catesby’s co-conspirator and the man whose face you’ve seen in V For Vendetta.
Gunpowder will air on HBO from Monday, December 18 through Wednesday, December 20. Or, for the full Thrones experience, stream it on HBO Now or and HBO Go. Here’s a teaser: