New Great Expectations series casts Olivia Colman, Matt Berry, and more

(Image credit: BBC/FX)

Olivia Colman and Matt Berry are taking on the world of Charles Dickens with a new adaptation of Great Expectations, Variety reports.

Great Expectations was first published in 1861 and the novel is a coming of age story centering around an orphan Pip and featuring an eclectic ensemble cast of characters who come and go from Pip's life. Colman will play the eccentric Miss Havisham, a wealthy spinster who takes on Pip as a companion, while Berry is Mr. Pumblechook, the uncle of Pip's sister's husband.

The limited series' cast will also include Dunkirk star Fionn Whitehead as Pip, as well as Ashley Thomas (The Night Of), Johnny Harris (This Is England '86), Shalom Brune-Franklin (Line of Duty), Hayley Squires (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Owen McDonnell (Killing Eve), and Trystan Gravelle (The Terror).

Peaky Blinders showrunner Steven Knight is writing and executive producing the series – his fellow executive producers include Ridley Scott and Tom Hardy. Lucy Forbes, who recently helmed several episodes of the BBC series This is Going to Hurt, starring Ben Whishaw, will serve as lead director. This is Knight's second Dickens adaptation for the BBC and FX, as he previously helmed 2019's A Christmas Carol limited series, which starred Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge.

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