'Wolf Hall: The Mirror & the Light' First Look Takes Us Back to King Henry VIII's Court

When people think of period dramas, they often think of something very specific: lavish stories set in Jolly Olde England, usually centered around the murderous whims of King Henry VIII, the generally tragic lives of his wives who deserved better, or the triumphal reign of his second daughter, Elizabeth. And if there is a gold standard for what those sorts of Tudor dramas are supposed to be and do, it is the PBS miniseries, Wolf Hall.

A six-part drama that originally aired in 2015, the series featured an enviable prestige pedigree cast and racked up eight Emmy nominations. It was one of the last recent PBS series not named Downton Abbey to find significant award-season success. That it would return for a second outing always seemed obvious; the question was only ever when. Thankfully, that time has finally arrived, and filming is nearly complete on the highly anticipated sequel Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light.

Based on Booker Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel’s critically acclaimed trilogy of novels, Wolf Hall tells the story of Thomas Cromwell, one of the most remarkable and influential figures in English history. Born a blacksmith’s son in Surrey, he rose to tremendous power in the court of King Henry VIII, ultimately becoming his most trusted advisor. Cromwell was a key architect of the Protestant Reformation in England. As such, he was primarily responsible for the dissolution of Henry’s marriage to Catherine of Aragon and the fall of his second wife, Anne Boleyn, several years later.