Downton Abbey actress, Jessica Brown Findlay (Lady Sybil), has been cast in the upcoming television series adaptation of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. She will be joining actors Alden Ehrenreich (Solo) and Harry Llyod (Game of Thrones), who were both previously announced as two of the series’ other leads.
Although originally developed by Syfy and getting a subsequent straight-to-series order from the USA Network this past February, the series has been unexpectedly picked up by NBCUniversal for their upcoming streaming service — which is slated to launch in 2020.
Much like the 1932 original novel, Brave New World takes place in a dystopian future where peace has seemingly been achieved “through the prohibition of monogamy, privacy, money, family, and history itself,” according to the official logline.
Findlay will play the role of Lenina Crowne, a Beta Plus Hatchery worker who begins to “question her position with the strict social strata of the New World,” while Ehrenreich will star as John the Savage, an outsider who upends Bernard Marx’s world and its inhabitants. Lloyd will take on the role of the neurotic Marx.
In Huxley’s work, Lenina and Bernard Marx are citizens of New London, who “have only ever known a rigid social order, a perfect pharmaceutical called Soma, and a culture of instant gratification and ubiquitous sex.” After pairing up with each other, they take a vacation to the Savage Lands, “where they become embroiled in a harrowing and violent rebellion,” before being rescued by John the Savage, who ultimately disrupts the peaceful society.