EXCLUSIVE: Deadline hears that The White Lotus and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood is attached to star in a new TV adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre.
Emmy nominee Wood will play the indomitable heroine in the buzzy adaptation which we understand is being produced by UK powerhouse Working Title and is penned by Miriam Battye, a WGA winner for her work on Succession.
We hear there are advanced discussions with a UK broadcaster to join the project.
The coming-of-age romance novel explores the moral and emotional development of orphan Jane Eyre as she searches for love, independence, and social equality in 19th-century England. Wood feels like a great match for the project, which is widely considered to be ahead of its time because of the heroine’s individualistic and humorous character and how the novel approaches topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism. There will be other plumb roles, including that of Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.
The source material has inspired a number of film and TV adaptations over the decades but none for a little while. Ruth Wilson starred in the last major TV version in 2006. Mia Wasikowska took on the role in Cary Fukanaga’s 2011 film and Charlotte Gainsbourg played Jane for Franco Zeffirelli in 1996. 2027 will mark the 80th anniversary of the novel’s first publication.
Wood is riding high after her Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe noms for S3 of The White Lotus and is in post on movie Anxious People with Angelina Jolie. She was recently cast as George Harrison’s photographer wife Pattie Boyd in Sam Mendes’ Beatles movies.
Battye recently wrote the script for feature Extra Geography, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. She is writer and exec producer on Apple and A24’s upcoming dramedy series The Husbands, starring Juno Temple.
Bridget Jones outfit Working Title is in post on feature Sense And Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and recently teamed with Lena Dunham on Netflix series Too Much.
Working Title and reps were not immediately available for comment.