EXCLUSIVE: Deadline can reveal that the BBC has joined Working Title’s new TV adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre, which will be led by The White Lotus and Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood.
As we revealed earlier this year, Emmy nominee Wood is attached to play the indomitable heroine in the buzzy adaptation, which is being produced by UK powerhouse Working Title and is penned by Miriam Battye, a WGA Award winner for her work on Succession.
We understand the BBC is now attached to develop the project and become its broadcaster-financier.
The coming-of-age romance novel explores the moral and emotional development of orphan Jane Eyre as she searches for love, independence and social equality in 19th century England. Wood feels like a great match for the project, which is widely considered to be ahead of its time because of the heroine’s individualistic and humorous character and how the novel approaches topics of class, sexuality, religion and feminism. There will be other plumb roles, including that of Mr Rochester, the brooding master of Thornfield Hall.
The source material has inspired a number of film and TV adaptations over the decades but none for a little while. Ruth Wilson starred in the last major TV version in 2006, also for the BBC. Mia Wasikowska took on the role in Cary Fukanaga’s 2011 film (for BBC Films), and Charlotte Gainsbourg played Jane for Franco Zeffirelli in 1996. 2027 will mark the 180th anniversary of the novel’s first publication.
Sister Emily Brontë’s Wuthering Heights was the subject of a recent big-screen adaptation starring Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi.
Wood is riding high after her Emmy, SAG and Golden Globe noms for Season 3 of The White Lotus and is in post on the movie Anxious People with Angelina Jolie. She was recently cast as George Harrison’s photographer wife Pattie Boyd in Sam Mendes’ Beatles movies, which are filming this summer.
Battye recently wrote the script for feature Extra Geography, which debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. She is writer and exec producer on Apple and A24’s dramedy series The Husbands, starring Juno Temple.
Bridget Jones outfit Working Title has feature Sense and Sensibility starring Daisy Edgar-Jones coming out in September and recently teamed with Lena Dunham on Netflix series Too Much.
BBC and Working Title were not immediately available for comment.
