AMC Premiere Acquires Eleanor Tomlinson 'The War of the Worlds' Adaptation
WARNING: Embargoed for publication until 09:30:01 on 09/09/2019 - Programme Name: The War of the Worlds - TX: n/a - Episode: n/a (No. 1) - Picture Shows: Amy (ELEANOR TOMLINSON), George (RAFE SPALL) - (C) Mammoth Screen - Photographer: unknown
WARNING: Use of this copyright image is subject to the terms of use of BBC Pictures' Digital Picture Service (BBC Pictures) as s
The latest project from Poldark star Eleanor Tomlinson, a new adaptation of the H.G. Wells classic story The War of the Worlds, will come to America via AMC's new ad-free service, AMC Premiere.
AMC Premiere is an add-on subscription that provides additional and exclusive content, as well as commercial free viewing, within the existing AMC app. (Shorter version: Yes, this is yet another streaming-adjacent service you may want to consider adding to your at-home lineup.)
The War of the Worlds aired earlier this year on BBC one and features a cast that includes not just Tomlinson, but also several other familiar faces that will be familiar to British drama fans, including Rafe Spall and Robert Carlyle. It's a lavish three-part production that aims to (once again) reframe the original novel's moral anxieties in new and relative directions, including everything from women's liberation to climate change.
However, the most notable thing about this adadaptation is probably the fact that this is a period sci-fi piece. Yes. this retelling (somehow?) takes place in the early twentieth century, about a decade or so later than the setting of the original novel. The decision to place the story just out of Victorian and into Edwardian England is intersting, as is the choice to give the novel's narrator a clear identity and point of view.
Now known as George (Spall), and he's a man that's not only left his wife for new partnery Amy (Tomlinson), they're trying to build a new life together as a scandalous pair of unmarrieds expecting a baby. George, it turns out, was denied a divorce, and it's all very uncomfortable, morally speaking, repeatedly highlighting the underlying tension between Edwardian social conservatism and emerging liberalism. It's also a bit on the nose, narratively speaking, given that the real life Wells (that "G" stands for George) left his wife for a woman named Amy. Just saying.
Watch the BBC trailer for the series below, complete with giant alien robot tripods.
What do you think of the look of this The War of the Worlds? Is this an adaptatin you'd watch? Do any of you even have AMC premiere? (I don't, and I have...everything, LOL.) Let's discuss in the comments.
