Paul Dano and James Norton will join Downton Abbey’s Lily James in Andrew Davies’s dramatisation of Tolstoy’s classic novel.

War and Peace

New cast additions have been added to Leo Tolstoy’s 1869 classic novel WAR AND PEACE. The new faces will be 12 YEARS A SLAVE star Paul Dano who will play Pierre Bezukhov, while Granchester’s James Norton has been confirmed in the role of Prince Andrei Bolkonsky.

They are set to join DOWNTON ABBEY’s Lily James as Natasha Rostova, Stephen Rea as Prince Vassily Kuragin, and Adrian Edmondson and Greta Scacchi as Count and Countess Rostov, in Andrew Davies’s adaptation of the epic chronicle of five aristocratic families experiencing Napolean’s invasion of Russia. 

The notoriously expansive novel begins in 1805 Russia and revolves around five aristocratic families set against the backdrop of the reign of Alexander I, the lingering effects of his grandmother Catherine The Great’s rule and the events surrounding Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812. Natasha Rostova is one of the novel’s central characters, who ultimately falls in love with Pierre Bezukhov, the awkward illegitimate son who rises in society but leads a tumultuous life as he seeks to overcome his emotions. Andrei Bolkonsky is Natasha’s other suitor who forms the third leg of the love triangle. In King Vidor’s 1956 feature adaptation, the roles were played by Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Mel Ferrer.

Norton is looking forward to the commencement of filming and being involved in the project:

“I’m thrilled to be entrusted with Andrei in this exciting adaptation. It’s a privilege to bring to life one of Tolstoy’s wonderfully rich and conflicted characters. And to get to work alongside talents such as Tom Harper, Andrew Davies, Lily James and Paul Dano is very exciting – I can’t wait to get started.”

To complete the WAR AND PEACE ensemble is THE TUNNEL’s Jack Lowden as Nikolai Rostov, THE MUSKETEERS’ Tom Burke as Dolokhov and MR SELFRIDGE’s Aisling Loftus as Sonya.

BBC1 controller Charlotte Moore said: “War and Peace will be a major event drama on BBC1 and it is only fitting that Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece has attracted such a fine cast of actors to Andrew Davies’ stunning scripts.”

Filming of the series will begin in January 2015 in Russia, Lithuania and Latvia and is set to hit our screens later in 2015. 

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