BBC Two’s The Luminaries Adds to Cast

Filming has begun on BBC Two’s The Luminaries, which has added to its cast Himesh Patel (The Aeronauts, EastEnders) and Ewen Leslie (The Cry, Top of the Lake: China Girl).

Eleanor Catton’s adaptation of her 2013 Man Booker Prize-winning novel of the same name, The Luminaries is a 19th-century tale of adventure and mystery set on the Wild West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island in the boom years of the 1860s gold rush. The series will be broadcast on BBC Two in the U.K. and TVNZ1 in New Zealand.

Patel and Leslie will star alongside the previously announced Eve Hewson (Robin Hood, The Knick, Bridge of Spies), Eva Green (Casino Royale, Penny Dreadful, Sin City, A Dame to Kill For) and Marton Csokas (The Equalizer, Lord of the Rings, Into the Badlands).

Produced by Working Title Television and Southern Light Films, The Luminaries is being adapted for the screen by Catton and Claire McCarthy (Ophelia, The Waiting City). The series will be sold internationally by Fremantle.