EXCLUSIVE: Christina Hendricks will play Mrs. St. George in a series adaptation of Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel The Buccaneers.
The Good Girls and Mad Men star joins buccaneers Kristine Froseth, Alisha Boe, Josie Totah, Aubri Ibrag, Imogen Waterhouse and Mia Threapleton in the Apple TV+ drama series.
Written by Katherine Jakeways, who wrote on and starred in Tracey Ullman’s Show, and directed by Bleak House and Generation Kill helmer Susanna White, the untitled series, is produced for the streamer by The Forge Entertainment, the British production company behind Hugh Laurie’s BBC/PBS political series Roadkill and Starz period drama Becoming Elizabeth. Production is under way in Scotland.
Hendricks’ Mrs. St. George is the mother of buccaneers Nan and Jinny, played by Froseth and Waterhouse respectively. As a girl she was the belle of the ball herself, before she even dreamt of having money. Then when her husband struck gold on Wall Street, she found herself wealthy beyond her wildest dreams but in real danger of being the kind of social-climbing outsider that used to bemuse her. Above all else, she wants her daughters to be happy, but soon they’ll discover that marriage might not be the key to that happiness… for any of them.
The series is centered around girls with money, men with power, new money and old secrets. A group of fun-loving young American girls explode into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s, kicking off an Anglo-American culture clash as the land of the stiff upper lip is infiltrated by a refreshing disregard for centuries of tradition. Sent to secure husbands and titles, the buccaneers’ hearts are set on much more than that, and saying ‘I do’ is just the beginning.
Jakeways and White exec produce with The Forge’s Beth Willis and George Faber.
The role marks Hendricks’ latest British TV role; she previously starred in Sky drama series Tin Star alongside Tim Roth. Best known for playing Joan Holloway in seven seasons of AMC’s period drama Mad Men, she also recently played Beth Boland in four seasons of NBC’s Good Girls, which ended last year. She also voiced Cherie in Hulu’s animated series Solar Opposites.
Hendricks is represented by Link Management, UTA, Hirsch, Wallerstein, Hayum, Matlof + Fishman and Independent in the UK.
