Sophie Okonedo joins an all-star cast in the third series of critically acclaimed Sky original anarchic drama Britannia
Sophie Okonedo joins an all-star cast in the third series of critically acclaimed Sky original anarchic drama Britannia
Sky today announces that BAFTA and Academy Award® nominated actress Sophie Okonedo (Ratched, Death on the Nile) joins an all-star cast in the third series of critically acclaimed, Sky original drama Britannia. The series, which is currently filming in the UK, is an epic genre-bending tale of clashing civilisations and religions set in a wold of mythic Celtic tribes, psychedelic druids and terrifying Romans, as a young girl tries to build a rebel alliance with a group of misfits.
Created by the multi-award-winning writers Jez Butterworth, his brother Tom Butterworth and James Richardson. Britannia is produced by Vertigo Films and Neal Street Productions and brings a moment of our history to life like never seen before on TV with humour, heart and violence.
Sophie will star as Hemple, the wife of General Aulus (David Morrissey), who arrives in Britannia to find out why her husband has failed with Lokka’s mission to capture the chosen one, Cait. If he isn’t up to the job, she certainly is. Series three also sees the return of actors David Morrissey, Mackenzie Crook, Annabel Scholey, Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Julian Rhind-Tutt, Eleanor Worthington-Cox, and Zoë Wanamaker.
Sophie Okonedo said: “I’m so glad to be plunged into the weird and wonderful world of Britannia. I was already a fan of the show and its writers Jez and Tom Butterworth, so I jumped for joy when they offered me the wonderful character of Hemple. Without giving too much away I’ll just say this woman has a huge appetite…”
James Richardson added: “Sophie is one of the UK’s greatest actors and we all feel very privileged to have her play our new and particularly malevolent force for series three. She is an actor with an enormous range and manages to make you laugh whilst being completely terrifying. A perfect fit for Britannia! We feel very fortunate to be able to continue making such an ambitious show about a time when everything changes.
Britannia series three was commissioned by Zai Bennett, Sky’s Managing Director of Content and Cameron Roach, Sky’s Director of Drama at Sky Studios with Gabriel Silver as the executive producer for the series for Sky Studios. Series three is written by Jez and Tom Butterworth and Mackenzie Crook and produced by Rupert Ryle-Hodges. Britannia is created by Jez and Tom Butterworth and Vertigo Films’ James Richardson who all act as Executive Producers together with Neal Street Production's Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris and Nicolas Brown.
In the UK, all episodes of series one and two of Britannia are available to watch on demand on Sky and NOW TV. In the U.S., EPIX is currently airing Britannia series one with series two premiere due October 4th; EPIX will also be the exclusive U.S. home for series three.
International distribution for Britannia is being led by NBCUniversal Global Distribution for Sky Studios.
Critical appraisal for Britannia series one and two:
“Start watching this immediately” (The Times)
“A Roman romp so radical it must be revered” (The Guardian)
“Mad as a snake and the best thing on TV” (The Economist)
Notes to editors:
Sophie Okonedo is represented by Hamilton Hodell, CAA, Peikoff Mahan and Prosper PR
For more information contact
About Sky
With 24 million customers across seven countries, Sky is Europe’s leading media and entertainment company and is proud to be part of the Comcast group. Our 32,000 employees help connect our customers to the very best entertainment, sports, news, arts and to our own local, original content.
Following the success of Sky originals like Chernobyl, we plan to double our investment in original content by 2024. We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in UK creative sector in the first five years alone.
Our technology allows customers to watch what they want, when they want, how they want, and as we connect millions of families to content they love, we believe it is our responsibility to do it safely. That’s why we offer services like Sky Broadband Buddy and the Sky Kids app. And our online streaming service, NOW TV, brings viewers all the enjoyment of Sky with the flexibility of a contract-free service.
We also believe that a company of our scale has a responsibility that goes beyond our business, and into the community. We recently announced a series of commitments to help tackle racial injustice and improve diversity and inclusion. To ensure the commitments are delivered, Sky will invest £10million per year across its markets for each of the next three years. We’re committed to being Europe’s first net zero carbon entertainment company by 2030 – two decades before we have to – and we’re an inclusive employer recognised by The Times and Stonewall for our commitment to diversity.
About Sky Studios
Sky Studios brings to screen unique stories from the very best talent in Europe.
We develop, produce and fund original drama, comedy and documentary for Sky’s 24m customers and beyond, with 52 scripted shows already in production. Building on the success of critically-acclaimed Sky originals including Emmy-winning Chernobyl, Bafta-winning Patrick Melrose and international hits Babylon Berlin and Riviera, Sky Studios is the new creative home of Sky originals, such as The Third Day with Jude Law, ZeroZeroZero from the makers of Gomorrah and The New Pope directed by Academy Award-winning director Paolo Sorrentino.
We’re an agile Studio, seeking out the best untold stories from new voices while working in creative partnership with today’s best writers, producers and on-screen talent to bring viewers stories they wouldn’t find anywhere else.
With commissioning talent and production capability across the UK, Germany and Italy, we understand local tastes across Europe better than anyone else and have plans to more than double our investment in original content by 2024, fully supported and backed by Comcast NBC Universal.
We’re also developing a new TV and movie studio, Sky Studios Elstree, which is expected to lead to the creation of over 2,000 new jobs and generate an additional £3 billion of production investment in UK creative sector in the first five years alone.
Sky Studios invests in the cultural economy and global production sector with equity stakes in nine production companies in the UK and the US, including Great British Bake-Off creator Love Productions, and the premiere reality crime producer in the US, Jupiter Entertainment, creator of long-running hit Snapped. Sky Studios has invested in high quality factual specialists Blast Films and True North Productions; entertainment and format expert Znak & Co (US & UK); natural history producer True to Nature; drama producers The Lighthouse and Longboat Pictures; and growth businesses Sugar Films, Chrysalis Vision, and Talos Films (US).
Sky Studios launched in June 2019. The senior leadership team is Chief Executive Officer Gary Davey, Chief Commercial Officer Jane Millichip, Chief Finance Officer Caroline Cooper, Director of Drama UK Cameron Roach, Director of Comedy UK Jon Mountague, Director Original Production Sky Italia Nils Hartmann, and Director Original Productions Sky Deutschland Marcus Ammon.
About Vertigo Films
Vertigo Films is a British independent TV and Film company founded in 2002, run by co-founders James Richardson and Allan Niblo and CEO Jane Moore. On the success of cinematic hits including Monsters, directed by Gareth Edwards, Bronson, starring Tom Hardy, The Football Factory and StreetDance 3D , the company built an integrated, distribution, sales and post-production operation, and became one of the most successful independent film companies in the U.K. Vertigo prides itself on being an innovator: the first UK production company to film on digital; the first UK production company to film in 3D; and a creator of VR and AI games to use as marketing tools. Since expanding into TV, Vertigo has combined original, cinematic and international stories with a unique expertise in marketing to create its first two shows - Britannia and Bulletproof for Sky - and turn them into commercial and critical hits around the world, with both shows moving into their third seasons.
About Neal Street Productions
Neal Street Productions is run by Sam Mendes, Pippa Harris, Caro Newling, and Nicolas Brown and has been successfully producing award-winning film, TV and theatre for the past 15 years.
Neal Street’s diverse film and television slate includes the hugely successful Call the Midwife for the BBC, John Logan’s Penny Dreadful and Penny Dreadful: City of Angels for Showtime; the award-winning The Hollow Crown for the BBC; two series of Britannia for Sky/Amazon, and the BAFTA-nominated, contemporary thriller Informer for BBC/Amazon. Neal Street’s film projects have included Revolutionary Road for Paramount and DreamWorks, Things We Lost in the Fire for DreamWorks, and Jarhead for Universal. More recently, 1917, Neal Street's First World War epic, directed by Sam Mendes and co-written by Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns for Amblin and Universal, starred George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Mark Strong, Andrew Scott, Richard Madden, Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch. The film won over 100 awards, including 2 Golden Globes for Best Picture and Best Director, 3 Academy Awards for Best Cinematography, VFX and Sound Mixing, and 7 BAFTAs including Best Film, Best British Film and Best Director.
In the theatre, recent productions include Jez Butterworth’s Olivier and Tony award-winning The Ferryman; The Lehman Trilogy which had sell-out runs in London and at the Park Avenue Armoury Theater in New York; as well as the multi-award winning A Very Expensive Poison written by Lucy Prebble, performed at the Old Vic
Neal Street Productions is an All3Media company, All3Media is owned jointly between Discovery Communications and Liberty Global.
