A new trailer for King Lear released yesterday (May 22) shows Sir Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson sharing a screen for the first time in 25 years.
The pair previously worked together on Howards End (1992) and The Remains of the Day (1993), portraying each other’s love interests. This new two-hour adaptation of Shakespeare‘s epic tragedy sees them play roles more in line with their respective ages, however, with Sir Anthony as the titular king, and Emma his scheming eldest daughter Goneril:
Also visible are Emily Watson as Goneril’s sister Regan, Lady Macbeth‘s Florence Pugh as their too-honest sibling Cordelia, and Game of Thrones‘s Jim Broadbent as the Earl of Gloucester. Downton‘s Jim Carter and Outlander‘s Tobias Menzies can be seen too, as the Earl of Kent and the Duke of Cornwall respectively.
(Ooh! How about this for some royal trivia? The current Duke of Cornwall is Prince Charles, the eldest son of Prince Philip, whom Tobias is due to play in the next two seasons of The Crown, replacing Matt Smith.)
Aaanyway. There are two other Anglo favorites in the cast, though they don’t feature in this trailer: namely Sherlock‘s Andrew Scott, who plays Gloucester’s son Edgar, and ex-Timelord Christopher Eccleston, who plays Goneril’s henchman Oswald.
The one-off adaptation is set in modern-day Britain, as a king gives up his crown in return for life-long loyalty from his daughters. (Spoiler alert: they’re not loyal.)
It will air on BBC2 in the U.K. on Monday (May 28), before becoming available in the U.S. on Amazon Prime Video.
Are you excited to see Sir Anthony and Emma reunited on screen?
