Games of Thrones alumni Iain Glen (Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Titans) and Owen Teale (A Discovery of Witches, The Last Legion) are among the final additions to the cast of the upcoming Amazon Prime Video original thriller series The Rig, as reported by Deadline. The six-part series is directed by John Strickland (Bodyguard, Case Sensitive) and created by novelist David MacPherson (Wrath, Stratus), according to Deadline. It is allegedly the first Amazon original television show to be filmed entirely in Scotland, Deadline reports.
As its title suggests, The Rig is set on an offshore drilling rig, a perilous workplace for the drama’s many characters: “When the crew is due to return to the mainland, a mysterious and all-enveloping fog rolls through and they find themselves cut off from all communications with the shore… A major accident forces [the crew] to ask questions about who they can really trust,” via Deadline. Glen stars as rig crew leader Magnus MacMillan and headlines the cast alongside Schitt’s Creek breakout performer Emily Hampshire (Good Neighbors, My Awkward Sexual Adventure), who plays oil company liaison and scientist Rose Mason, as reported by Deadline.
Teale is one of several performers who plays a key member of MacMillan’s crew. Martin Compston (In Plain Sight, Donkeys) and Mark Bonnar (Catastrophe, Apple Tree Yard) play the rig’s communications officer and deck foreman, respectively, according to The Scotsman. Compston and The Rig‘s in-house director Strickland already have an established bond based on their time working together on the BBC police drama Line of Duty, whose sixth season premieres on March 21.
Compston is just one of several cast members on The Rig who appeared in Line of Duty episodes helmed by Strickland. Richard Pepple (Bridgerton, Beasts of No Nation) and Rochenda Sandall (Criminal: UK, Small Axe: Mangrove), who play the oil rig’s resident medic and crew boss, respectively, played recurring roles in Line of Duty season five, as reported by Deadline.
MacPherson wrote on his Twitter about how chuffed he was about the caliber of the show’s cast members, as well as the colossal sets being constructed in Edinburgh, where he currently resides.
Filming on The Rig is allegedly scheduled to commence in the last half of March 2021, according to Deadline.