Everything We Know About Edith Wharton Drama The Buccaneers
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If HBO's star-studded series The Gilded Age left you wanting more, you may want to take note of this upcoming Apple TV+ series.
The streaming platform has just given a straight-to-series order to The Buccaneers, an eight-episode drama based on the work of legendary Gilded Age author Edith Wharton. Specifically, the show is an adaptation of Wharton's unfinished final novel of the same name. Production is already underway in Scotland, so an early 2023 release date seems likely.
Per the Hollywood Reporter, the series is created by British writer Katherine Jakeways (Tracey Ullman’s Show), and takes place in 1870s London. Directed by Susanna White, the show centers on "a group of fun-loving young American girls who exploded into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s, kicking off an Anglo-American culture clash." The synopsis noters that while the eponymous "buccaneers" have been sent across the pond to secure husbands and titles, their "hearts are set on much more than that—and saying 'I do' is just the beginning."
When Wharton died in 1937, she'd written roughly three-fifths of The Buccaneers. For that reason, the series will be "inspired by" the unfinished novel, rather than a direct adaptation. But the book book was later completed by Wharton scholar Marion Mainwaring, following a detailed outline left by Wharton, and published in full in 1993. Per the publisher's notes, the finished version is "the richly engaging story of Nan St. George and guy Thwarte, an American heiress and an English aristocrat, whose love breaks the rules of both their societies".
The cast of The Buccaneers will include Kristine Froseth (The Assistant), Alisha Boe (13 Reasons Why), Josie Totah (Saved by the Bell), Aubri Ibrag (Dive Club), Imogen Waterhouse (The Outpost) and Mia Threapleton (Shadows).
If you're still unclear on exactly when, and what, the Gilded Age was, our historical primer should be helpful. The term generally refers to a period of excess and economic plenty, which took place between the Civil War and the turn of the twentieth century.
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