Frank Dillane, Hayley Squires, Clémence Poésy, Jamael Westman Join ‘The Essex Serpent’ Apple Series

Frank Dillane (Fear the Walking Dead, The Girlfriend Experience), Hayley Squires (Adult Material, I, Daniel Blake), Clémence Poésy (Tenet, Genius) and Jamael Westman (Anne Boleyn, Animals), are set as leads opposite Claire Danes and Tom Hiddleston in the Apple TV+ drama series The Essex Serpent, adapted from Sarah Perry’s bestselling novel of the same name.

Written by Anna Symon and directed by Clio Barnard, The Essex Serpent follows newly widowed Cora (Danes) who, having being released from an abusive marriage, relocates from Victorian London to the small village of Aldwinter in Essex, intrigued by a local superstition that a mythical creature known as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area.

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Dillane will play Luke Garrett, a pioneering young surgeon. Some call him a genius, others a liability. He’s headstrong and ambitious, and he meets his intellectual match in Cora.

Squires will portray Martha. More than just a servant in Cora’s household, she’s a highly intelligent and fiery young socialist, and Cora’s closest confidante.

Poésy will play Stella Ransome, friendly, sympathetic and adored by her husband Will and children. A beautiful soul inside and out, she becomes a firm friend of Cora’s when she arrives in Aldwinter.

Westman is Dr. George Spencer, Luke’s right hand man. An unexceptional surgeon he may be, but a kinder man you couldn’t hope to meet.

Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Patrick Walters, Iain Canning and Emile Sherman executive produce alongside Barnard and Symon. Andrea Cornwell will serve as producer. The series is produced by See-Saw Films.

Dillane is repped by Michelle Braidman Associates ltd. (UK) and WME (U.S.). Squires is repped by B-Side in the UK and Management 360 in the U.S. Poésy is repped by United Agents. Westman is repped by Lara Beach at Curtis Brown UK.

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