Damian Lewis In Talks For BBC/Masterpiece Miniseries ‘Wolf Hall’, an adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize winning historical fiction novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies.

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   BBC Two and Masterpiece are hooking up for a “major” adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize winning historical fiction novels Wolf Hall andBring Up The Bodies. Tony and Olivier Award-winner Mark Rylance is now confirmed to play Thomas Cromwell in the six-part serial that follows Cromwell’s rise from the lowly son of a blacksmith to becoming King Henry VIII’s closest advisor in the Tudor court. BAFTA-winning helmer Peter Kosminsky is directing from a script byTinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Peter Straughan. Wolf Hallis a co-production from Company Pictures, Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment, and Masterpiece for BBC Two in association with BBC Worldwide.

The project was first tipped in 2011 as a four-part adaptation of just 2009’sWolf Hall, but in 2012, Mantel’s second book in the Cromwell trilogy, Bring Up The Bodies, won her a second Booker prize and the miniseries will combine the two under the Wolf Hall title. Both have been best-sellers and gave Mantel the rare distinction of winning two Bookers, the UK’s highest literary honor. Shooting starts in spring 2014 for an as-yet determined airdate on BBC Two in the UK and Masterpiece in the U.S. in 2015. 

Mantel endorsed the mini, saying, “Peter Straughan’s scripts are a miracle of elegant compression, and I believe that with such a strong team the original material can only be enhanced.” She is currently writing the last in the best-selling series of books, The Mirror And The Light.

Executive producers are Polly Hill for BBC Two, Rebecca Eaton for Masterpiece, Martin Rakusen and Ben Donald for BBC Worldwide, Colin Callender for Playground and John Yorke for Company Pictures.

 Erstwhile Homeland star Damian Lewis could step into the role of King Henry VIII in BBC Two andMasterpiece‘s major adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s Booker Prize winning historical fiction novels Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies. Mark Rylance is playing Thomas Cromwell in the six-part serial and Deadline has confirmed that Lewis is in talks for the role of the Tudor King. A deal is not yet closed. The Daily Mail first reportedword of the “complex negotiations.” Lewis is currently filming Werner Herzog’sQueen Of The Desert with Nicole Kidman. The Wolf Hall project is due to start shooting in the spring. It follows Cromwell’s rise from the lowly son of a blacksmith to becoming Henry’s closest advisor. BAFTA-winning helmer Peter Kosminsky is directing from a script by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy’s Peter Straughan. Wolf Hall is a co-production from Company Pictures, Colin Callender’s Playground Entertainment, and Masterpiece for BBC Two in association with BBC Worldwide.