Julianne Moore to Star as Mary Villiers In Jacobean Period Drama 'Mary & George'

Although we have been gifted with several fantastic period dramas over the past few years (Bridgerton, The Spanish Princess, Becoming Elizabeth, Sanditon, Belgravia) for some reason, most of them tend to say firmly planted in one of a handful of time periods. Tudor England is always popular, with its misogynist king, fascinating women, and intricate political intrigues. The Regency period is also a go-to setting, thanks to its shifting social and technological innovations, its empire-waisted gowns, and the fact that everyone associates it with romance and witty manners. (Thanks Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer, I guess.) And then there are shows like Downton Abbey set in the Edwardian period that spotlight the years in the lead-up to the Great War. 

Thankfully, period dramas are now mainstream enough that studios and filmmakers are finally beginning to branch out, albeit ever so slowly. Starz's hit drama The Serpent Queen is set in sixteenth-century France, the popular new German series The Empress takes place in nineteenth-century Vienna, and Prime Video's upcoming The English sends its British heroine to the American Wild West. But there are still some periods we almost never see dramatized---like the reign of King James I. 

This has always been kind of surprising, given that it was the Jacobean era that first saw a united England and Scotland under the crown, and included everything from controversial royal scandals to a witch panic. Happily, Sky and AMC seemed determined to fix that with Mary & George, an eight-part limited series about powerful royal family favorites Mary Villiers and her son George, who would become the first Duke of Buckingham. 

Academy Award-winner Julianne Moore has signed on to play Mary, in just her second leading television role. (The first was the Apple TV+ Stephen King drama Lisey's Story.) Here, she will portray a woman who some claim purposefully molded her son George to seduce King James I, and was so successful that the pair’s outrageous plotting ultimately propelled them humble beginnings to become one of the richest, most influential families in British history.

“Mary Villiers was a woman who through her own actions rose to become a powerful and influential figure in Jacobean London," Moore said in a statement. "It’s a daunting but exhilarating challenge to bring her to life on screen.” 

Inspired by the non-fiction book The King’s Assassin by Benjamin Woolley. Mary & George is created and written by playwright DC Moore, whose credits include Killing Eve, Temple, and Not Safe For Work. The series is produced by Liza Marshall’s Hera Pictures in association with Sky Studios and Oliver Hermanus (Living), is the lead director.

 “Since I first read about Mary Villiers’ life – and all she achieved with her son, George – I’ve been obsessed with bringing this story to the screen," Moore said. "Between King James’ often-overlooked love and lust for men, Mary’s extraordinary rise as a woman in a man’s world, and George’s (many, many) sexual and political conquests, this is a profoundly rich, and, as yet entirely untold on screen, story, about a pair of ‘commoners’ who conquered all before them.”

The series is set to begin filming in early 2023.