Kit Harington to Star in "A Tale of Two Cities" TV Adaptation

Kit Harington will lead a new adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic novel “A Tale of Two Cities” for the BBC and MGM+.

Starring alongside the “Game of Thrones” breakout in the four-part limited series will be François Civil (“Beating Hearts,” “The Three Musketeers”) and Mirren Mack (“Miss Austen,” “Hedda”). 

Hong Khaou (“Mr. Loverman,” “Lilting”) is on board to direct with show creator Daniel West (“Gunpowder,” “Top Boy”) penning the script. Principal photography will begin in October.

Set in 1782 London during the war between France and Britain, “A Tale of Two Cities” follows Lucie Manette (Mack), who “has her life upended when she receives a message from Paris — her father, assumed dead for almost 20 years, may be alive,” the series’ synopsis reads. “The messenger — idealistic French emigré, Charles Darnay (Civil) — is arrested and charged with treason. Lucie enlists the help of a brilliant but erratic young lawyer, Sydney Carton (Harington), to free Darnay in the hope he will lead her to Paris to track down her father.” What ensues is a complex love triangle as “both men fight to be worthy of her love, and Lucie is torn over which one to choose,” the plot description continues. “Yet neither man — physically so alike, spiritually poles apart — can escape the other. Instead, they find themselves bound together in life and death, through triumphs, tragedies, marriage and murder.”

Executive producers include Polly Williams and Sarah Best for Federation Stories, Léo Becker for Federation Studio France and Harington and West for Thriker Films. Simon Meyers (“I May Destroy You”) will produce.

“A Tale of Two Cities” will air on the BBC in the U.K. and MGM+ in the U.S.