Masterpiece Sets March Premiere Date for 'Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light'

Masterpiece has announced that the highly anticipated sequel series Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will premiere in March. The six-part drama is a sequel to the Emmy-nominated Wolf Hall and is based on the final installment in Booker Prize-winning author Hilary Mantel's critically acclaimed trilogy of novels. 

The Mirror and the Light will conclude the story of one of the most remarkable and influential figures in English history. The son of a blacksmith, the Surrey-born Thomas Cromwell rose to wield tremendous power at the court of King Henry VIII. He was a key architect of the Protestant Reformation in England, playing a major role in Henry's divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, and organizing the dissolution of the monastaries, a move that filled royal coffers and destroyed a key social safety net for the poor. He also engineered Henry's disastrous marriage to Anne of Cleves, whose brother was an influential Protestant leader in Western Germany.

The original Wolf Hall adapted the first two books in Mantel’s series — Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies — which ended with Anne Boleyn’s execution. The Mirror and the Light will adapt the third, which is based on the events of the last four years of Cromwell’s life. It's a story that includes everything from political backstabbing to judicially sanctioned murder, all as Cromwell struggles to hold on to the power he's fought so hard to gain. (Spoiler alert: The monster he helped create ultimately comes for him in the end and Henry has Cromwell executed in 1540.)

It's not an especially happy story, and will likely be much darker than its predecessor, which is saying something considering Wolf Hall concluded with the extended decapitation of a queen falsely accused of witchcraft and treason. But Cromwell's death, in particular, is neither quick nor kind. Though it's going to make for some great TV.

The bulk of the original Wolf Hall cast is back for this sequel series, including Mark Rylance (The Undeclared War) as Cromwell, Damian Lewis (A Spy Among Friends) as King Henry VIII, and Kate Phillips (Miss Scarlet) as Jane Seymour. Jonathan Pryce (The Crown) will reprise his role as Cardinal Wolsey — likely in some sort of flashback form — as will Lilit Lesser (Domina) as Princess Mary, Henry's daughter with his first wife Catherine of Aragon. 

Other returning cast members include Thomas Brodie-Sangster (The Artful Dodger) as Rafe Sadler, Joss Porter (Humans) as Richard Cromwell, James Larkin (Black Mirror) as Master Treasurer Fitzwilliam, Richard Dillane (Argo) as the Duke of Suffolk, Will Keen (His Dark Materials) as Archbishop Cranmer, and Hannah Steele (The Night Manager) as Mary Shelton. 

A handful of heavy hitters are joining The Mirror and the Light, Dame Harriet Walter (Archie) as Lady Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, and the last surviving Plantagenet princess, and Timothy Spall (The Sixth Commandment) as Thomas Howard, the ambitious Duke of Norfolk who was ultimately willing to let not one but two nieces put their heads on the block for his ambition. 

Other new members of the ensemble cast include Alex Jennings (The Crown) as Stephen Gardiner, Maisie Richardson-Sellers (Legends of Tomorrow) as Bess Oughtred, Lydia Leonard (Gentleman Jack) as Lady Jane Rochford, Charlie Rowe (Vanity Fair) as Gregory Cromwell, Harry Melling (The Queen’s Gambit) as Thomas Wriothesley, Corentin Fila (Being 17) as Christophe, Tom Mothersdale (Bodies) as Richard Riche, Karim Kadjar (Leave to Remain) as Eustache Chapuys, Lucy Russell (3 Body Problem), as Lady Anne Shelton, Will Tudor (Industry) as Edward Seymour, and Viola Prettejohn (The Witcher) as Mary Fitzroy. 

Here's the series' description. 

May, 1536. Anne Boleyn, Henry’s second wife, is dead. As the axe drops, Thomas Cromwell emerges from the bloodbath to continue his climb to power and wealth, while his formidable master, Henry, settles to short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane Seymour. Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, has no great family to back him, and no private army. Navigating the moral complexities that accompany the exercise of power in this brutal and bloody time, Cromwell is caught between his desire to do what is right and his instinct to survive. But in the wake of Henry VIII having executed his queen, no one is safe.

Despite rebellion at home, traitors plotting abroad and the threat of invasion testing Henry’s regime to breaking point, Cromwell’s robust imagination sees a new country in the mirror of the future. All of England lies at his feet, ripe for innovation and religious reform. But as fortune’s wheel turns, Cromwell’s enemies are gathering in the shadows. The inevitable question remains: how long can anyone survive under Henry’s cruel and capricious gaze?

The Mirror and the Light reunites the creative team from the BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning first series. It is directed by seven-time BAFTA award winner Peter Kosminsky (The Undeclared War), adapted for television by Academy Award nominee Peter Straughan (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). 

The series is a Playground and Company Pictures coproduction for the BBC and Masterpiece. It will be distributed internationally by Banijay Rights. Executive Producers are Colin Callender and Noëlette Buckley for Playground; Lucy Richer and Kosminsky for the BBC, and Susanne Simpson for Masterpiece. 

Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will premiere on Sunday, March 23 at 9 pm ET. The original Wolf Hall is currently available to stream with WETA Passport and on the Prime Video Masterpiece Channel.