Disney+ has given the clearance for new detective series adaptation of C.J.Sansom’s (Dissolution, Dark Fire) Shardlake, according to Deadline. Sansom’s interesting novel series Shardlake depicts a detective who worked under the reign of Henry VIII. The production companies behind the series will be The Forge and All3Media who are known for their thrillers, detective series, and even soap operas. Disney and The Forge have collaborated to bring on Justin Chadwick (Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom) to direct the new series. Chadwick is known for being the lead director on Becoming Elizabeth and has a great take when it comes to storytelling.
According to Deadline, the series will shoot in the United Kingdom during this year and will comprise four episodes. If the series does well they’ll be more lore from the novel to cover as Sansom has written seven books for the Shardlake series. This will be the first time that the series will be on the screen even though in 2007, BBC attempted an adaptation that never aired. The series did have a dramatized version that aired on the radio by BBC that featured Jason Watkins (The Crown), and Justin Salinger (Hitler: The Rise of Evil) as Matthew Shardlake.
Sansom is a British writer known for his historical crime novels. One of his more known works is the Shardlake series which spans seven different novels. The novels follow a hunchbacked detective named Matthew Shardlake of great integrity during the 1530’s all the way to the 1550’s. Shardlake is usually accompanied by a trusted assistant that helps him during his cases kind of like how Sherlock Holmes had Dr. Watson. The novels consist of a series of historical mysteries as Shardlake is always drawn to irregular and dangerous cases,
More news on Shardlake and other Disney projects to emerge during the year.