Maggie Gyllenhaal is heading to the small screen. The Academy Award nominee (Crazy Horse) has been tapped to star in Sundance Channel's original miniseries The Honourable Woman, The Hollywood Reporter said.
The eight-part miniseries is described as a fast-paced thriller set against an international political backdrop. Gyllenhaal, who will make her largest TV commitment to date with the project, will play Nessa Stein, the daughter of a Zionist arms procurer who as a child witnessed his assassination. Now an adult, Nessa inherits her father's company and changes course from supplying arms to laying data cabling networks between Israel and the West Bank. Her efforts to reconcile the Israelis and Palestinians lands her an appointment to the House of Lords and creates an international political maelstrom.
BAFTA winner Hugo Blick (The Shadow Line) will pen the script, direct and executive produce alongside Drama Republic's Greg Brenman (Billy Elliot), with Abi Bach (Small Island) on board to produce the Sundance and BBC Worldwide North America co-production. The project hails from Eight Rooks and Drama Republic for BBC Two and is co-produced by Sundance. Polly Hill will oversee for BBC, with BBC Worldwide holding on to international distribution rights. Jemma Adkins, senior vp scripted productions at BBC Worldwide North America, brokered the deal. BBC drama controller Ben Stephenson and BBC Two controller Janice Hadlow commissioned the series, which will air on BBC Two before it airs on Sundance.
"I couldn't put the scripts down. Nessa is such an exciting and intricate character. I can't wait to begin filming," Gyllenhaal said.
The Honourable Woman will be set in the U.K., Middle East and America and will film on location starting in July. It will air in the U.S. and BBC Two in the U.K. in 2014.
