Already boasting Lady Macbeth's Florence Pugh and Alexander Skarsgård in its cast, the new TV adaption of John Le Carré's The Little Drummer Girl – from the team behind The Night Manager – is adding another talent. Michael Shannon will be part of the ensemble.
Park Chan-Wook is in he director's chair for the series, which adapts Le Carré's 1983 book. Pugh is playing actress Charlie, who strikes up a friendship – and maybe more – with an intriguing stranger named Becker (Skarsgård) while on holiday in Greece in the 1970s. But while he seems interested in her, it turns out that he has an ulterior motive: an Israeli intelligence officer, he draws her into a high stakes plot and puts her performance skills to the death in a life-or-death situation.
Shannon is playing spymaster Kurtz, who oversees Becker's operation. “The first time I saw Michael was as one of the genius actors who delivered wonderful performances in Revolutionary Road, and ever since I’ve remained his loyal fan," says the director. "I believe Michael will make the perfect Kurtz, a man scarred by history and carrying burdens all too heavy on his shoulders, an Israeli 'Captain Ahab' obsessed by his biggest and most elusive nemesis yet." The show is aiming to be on screens in 2019. Shannon can be found in the newly Oscar-nominated The Shape Of Water, which finally arrives in the UK on 14 February.
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