Sean Bean To Feature in Disney+ Tudor Murder Mystery 'Shardlake'

Yorkshire’s own, Sean Bean has landed his next role in a huge new Disney+ original murder mystery series Shardlake, based on Tudor novels by CJ Sansom.

Bean is known for his roles in Game of Thrones, Sharpe, and more recently in BBC Prison Drama Time, in which he scooped a BAFTA for his performance.

He’ll be playing Thomas Cromwell in the new series, who’s described as the “dangerous and all-powerful right-hand man to Henry VIII”.

Cromwell is the boss of the main character Matthew Shardlake played by Arthur Hughes. Shardlake is a lawyer “with an acute sense of justice” in a world filled with schemes and plots.

The series is set in 16th-century England during the dissolution of the monasteries. Lawyer Shardlake leads a quiet life, but all that changes when Bean’s character “Cromwell instructs him to investigate the murder of one of his commissioners at a monastery in the remote town of Scarnsea”.

The series is written by Stephen Butchard, known for TV Series The Last Kingdom. He wrote in s statement: “Although these stories are set in Tudor England, the themes absolutely engage and resonate with today’s world.

“Hundreds of years may have past — but humankind and what makes us tick has changed little.”

The four-part drama promises t be filled with “mystery, suspense and deception”.

The series takes place in 16th-century England “during the dissolution of the monasteries”.

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However loyal Shardlake is to Cromwell and the Crown, he’s unfavoured in society. As a person living with scoliosis during the Tudor period, Shardlake is derogatorily referred to as a ‘crookback’.

Disney+ also released a first-look image of Shardlake (seen above), showing Hughes as the titular character.

Rounding out the series’ cast are Tetris actor Anthony Boyle as Jack Barak, Wolfe‘s Babou Ceesay as Abbot Fabian, Becoming Elizabeth‘s Ruby Ashbourne Serkis as Alice and Bean’s fellow Game of Thrones actor Paul Kaye as Brother Jerome.

Although an air date for Shardlake is yet to be announced, Disney+ has confirmed that production has started. Filming is taking place in Hungary, Austria and Romania.

Feature Image Credit: Netflix