‘Barkskins’: David Thewlis To Star In Nat Geo Drama Series Based On Book
EXCLUSIVE: David Thewlis (Wonder Woman, Harry Potter films) has been tapped as the lead of Barkskins, National Geographic’s scripted drama series based on the 2016 bestselling novel of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Annie Proulx which traces the story of America’s deforestation. The 10-episode series hails from Elwood Reid, Fox 21 TV Studios and Scott Rudin Productions.
Created by Reid, Barkskins follows a disparate group of outcasts who must navigate the brutal hardships, competing interests, and tangled loyalties at the crossroads of civilization—1600s New France—where the war to escape their past and re-make themselves is cast against the vast and unforgiving wilds of North America.
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Thewlis will play Monsieur Claude Trepagny, a wealthy landowner with grand visions for New France.
Reid will executive produce along with Scott Rudin, Garrett Basch, Eli Bush, and David Slade, who will also direct. The first season is slated to go into production in 2019 and will premiere on National Geographic globally in 172 countries and 43 languages.
Thewlis will next be seen in Amazon’s The Feed and also will star in James Cameron’s Avatar 2 and 3. He was recently seen in features Justice League and Wonder Woman and played V.M. Varga in Fargo. Thewlis is repped by The Artists Partnership and CAA.
Proulx is the author of eight books including the novels The Shipping News and the story collection Close Range, which included Brokeback Mountain, originally published in The New Yorker.
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