The Trailer for 'A Discovery of Witches' Promises Supernatural Delights

Matthew Goode and Teresa Palmer in "A Discovery of Witches" (Photo: Sky One/Bad Wolf Productions)

“Once the world was full of wonders,” Downton Abbey’s Matthew Goode intones ominously in the opening lines of the first trailer for upcoming fantasy drama A Discovery of Witches. “But it belongs to humans now. We have all but disappeared.”

Thus begins Sky’s newest big thing, a fantasy epic involving witches, vampires, demons and humans, with a big sprinkling of romance on top.

Based on the All Souls Trilogy by Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches follows the story of an Oxford professor – who’s also a vampire – and a student, who happens to be a witch descended from the women of Salem. While at Oxford, Diana manages to stumble upon an important magical book long sought after by pretty much every other magical species there is. She and her discovery attract the attention of Professor Matthew Claremont, just one of the magical beings intent on hunting down this particular tome. Trouble obviously ensues as magical war threatens to break out.

The subsequent forbidden romance between Matthew and Diana complicates things even further, as magical species apparently aren’t supposed to intermingle. Because, of course they aren’t.

The series’ all-star cast also includes Hacksaw Ridge actress Teresa Palmer, alongside Doctor Who star Alex Kingston, The Blacklist’s Valarie Pettiford, Sherlock’s Lindsay Duncan, Game of Thrones’ Owen Teale and more.

Watch the trailer for yourselves below:

 

I know it’s been a while since Downton and all, but whew, Matthew Goode is certainly a looker. Well done, Mary Crawley, you definitely got that one right in the end.

It definitely doesn’t hurt that A Discovery of Witches has a sort of Twilight meets Downton vibe with a dash of Harry Potter thrown in to it. (Which is to say these are all things that have already piqued my interest completely.)

The series will air on Sky in the U.K this Fall, but doesn’t have an American distributor that we know of yet. That seems likely to change in short order, as Harkness’ books were bestsellers and promise at least several seasons worth of material if adapted correctly. (Shadow of Night and The Book of Life are the two novels that follow A Discovery of Witches.)

Are you a fan of Harkness’ trilogy? Are you looking forward to A Discovery of Witches? Let’s discuss!


Lacy Baugher

Lacy's love of British TV is embarrassingly extensive, but primarily centers around evangelizing all things Doctor Who, and watching as many period dramas as possible.

Digital media type by day, she also has a fairly useless degree in British medieval literature, and dearly loves to talk about dream poetry, liminality, and the medieval religious vision. (Sadly, that opportunity presents itself very infrequently.) York apologist, Ninth Doctor enthusiast, and unabashed Ravenclaw. Say hi on Threads or Blue Sky at @LacyMB. 

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