Apple continues to enlist famous people to make stuff for its Apple TV+ streaming service (the Quibi Method, as we’ve probably called it before), with Keira Knightly now set to star in and executive produce an adaptation of Sarah Perry’s 2016 novel The Essex Serpent—which, if Knightley’s involvement wasn’t a giveaway, is a period piece about Victorian England. The book is about a recently widowed mother who eagerly gives up her fancy London digs for a new life out in the country after her abusive husband dies. There, she encounters stories of the eponymous mythical creature, which has supposedly been eating sheep and stealing children. You know, monster stuff. (Though, it should be explicitly stated, it doesn’t sound like this is going to be Keira Knightley doing Victorian-era Pacific Rim. It’s more of a gothic drama.)
The Essex Serpent will be directed by The Selfish Giant’s Clio Barnard, with Deep Water’s Anna Symon writing. This comes from The Wrap, which doesn’t mention a potential premiere window, but there’s still this whole pandemic thing going on that has made it hard to make TV shows.