The 'A Gentleman in Moscow' Trailer is Introduces a Timely Tale

The collapse of the Russian aristocracy towards the end of World War I was perhaps inevitable, considering Russia's shattering losses during the war and the reactionary policies of the extremely weak Tsar Nicholas II. However, the original revolution, which happened in February 1917, gave way to the Bolshevik Revolution months later in October, followed by the Russian Civil War, all of which were ugly in ways that history has tried to forget both up to the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922 and onward once Stalin took power in 1924.

A Gentleman in Moscow will be covering most of that, though from a perspective you wouldn't expect, in the first adaptation of Amor Towles's internationally bestselling 2016 novel of the same name. Starring Ewan McGregor (Obi-Wan Kenobi) as the fictional Count Alexander Rostov, an aristocrat living in Paris who returns home in a fit of misplaced nationalism when the monarchy falls, only to be put on trial as a "social parasite." Spared execution, he's put under house arrest in the attic of Moscow's Hotel Metropol, where he's told leaving will be a death sentence.

The eight-episode series covers the interwar period through the end of World War II, three decades of upheaval across Moscow and Russia, seen through the hotel windows, the guests who come and go, as Rostov survives by staying indoors and keeping his ear to the walls and the ground. As his world shrinks outwardly, it grows inwardly until he becomes a man with more to give than he can hold.

Here is the full synopsis:

An adaptation of Amor Towles’ internationally best-selling novel, A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov, who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past has placed him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in a grand Moscow hotel and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. 

As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.

Alongside McGregor, the series also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Mercy Street) as actress Anna Urbanova; Alexa Goodall (The Devil's Hour) as the Count's young friend Nina; Johnny Harris (Great Expectations) as secret police officer Osip; and Fehinti Balogun (Dune) as Mishka, the Count's best friend from university. Other co-stars include Dee Ahluwalia (Sex Education), Anastasia Hille (I Hate Suzie Too), Leah Harvey (Les Misérables), Paul Ready (Bodyguard), John Heffernan (Becoming Elizabeth), Lyès Salem (Final Cut), and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (The Witcher).

All eight episodes of the series were written by showrunner and executive producer Ben Vanstone (All Creatures Great & Small), with directors Sam Miller (Luther) and Sarah O'Gorman (The Last Kingdom) splitting helming duties. Towles, Vanstone, Harper, and McGregor are all executive producers, alongside Sharon Hughff (Three Pines), Pancho Mansfield (Queen of the South),  and Moonriver TV's Xavier Marchand (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris). 

A Gentleman in Moscow will stream on Friday, March 29, on Paramount+ with Showtime, ahead of its on-air premiere on Sunday, March 31, 2024, at 9 p.m. ET, and will air and stream on a weekly schedule.