Tom Hardy Courtesy of AP
Michael Kelly and Jonathan Pryce are among the international cast set as the period drama begins filmming in London.
Tom Hardy’s Taboo has filled out its cast.
The news comes as the eight-episode period drama for FX and BBC One begins filming this week in London. The project, which is based on an original story by Hardy and his father, Chips Hardy, hails from Steven Knight (Peaky Blinders, Locke) and will be directed by Kristoffer Nyholm (Danish TV series The Killing). Hardy's dad serves as the show’s consulting producer.
Hardy, who will appear next opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s The Revenant, stars as James Keziah Delaney, who returns to 1814 London after 10 years in Africa to discover that he has been left a mysterious legacy by his father. Driven to wage war on those who have wronged him, Delaney finds himself in a face-off against the East India Company, whilst playing a dangerous game between two warring nations – Britain and America.
Joining him is Michael Kelly (House of Cards), who plays American doctor Dumbarton, Jonathan Pryce (Pirates of the Caribbean) as Sir Stuart Strange, the head of the East India Company and Delaney’s nemesis, Oona Chaplin (The Crimson Field) as Zilpha Geary, James’ half-sister, and David Hayman (Macbeth) as Brace, Delaney’s trusted man-servant. Other actors in the decidedly international cast include Jessie Buckley (Shades of Love), Ashley Walters (Get Rich or Die Tryin’), Jefferson Hall (Vikings) and Ed Hogg (White Lightnin’).
Ridley Scott’s Scott Free London and Hardy’s Hardy Son & Baker are producing for BBC One and FX, with Sonar Entertainment distributing worldwide outside the UK. Scott and Kate Crowe are exec producers for Scott Free, alongside Hardy, Dean Baker and Knight. Timothy Bricknell (The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency) is producing.
The network first announced it had picked up stateside rights to the Hardy drama one year ago this month. The announcement comes on the heels of a decision to not move forward with a second season of Kurt Sutter's period drama, The Bastard Executioner.
