New Pictures Teams with Kit Harington & Thriker Films for Thriller

New Pictures (The Long Shadow, Champion), an All3Media company, has partnered with actor Kit Harington (Game of Thrones, Testament of Youth) and writer Daniel West’s (Gunpowder, Top Boy) Thriker Films for Empire of Dirt (w.t.).

The eight-part thriller will tell the story of city hotshot Jake Galloway, who reluctantly returns to his family farm after 15 years when a tragic accident makes him the head of the family. As he works to heal the toxic legacy of his tyrannical father and repair relationships with his estranged siblings and mother, he discovers his father’s darkest secret—a multimillion-pound drugs racket.

Empire of Dirt is being developed in association with All3Media International.

“Empire of Dirt will be thrilling, dangerous and fun, but always with a searing emotional core,” said Willow Grylls, co-founder and CEO of New Pictures. “It plays on our darkest flaws—jealousy, ambition and the broken children who are dragged along in the wake of a vindictive and tyrannical parent. We are thrilled to be partnering with the incredible talents of Kit and Daniel on such an exciting project.”

West and Harington said, “Empire of Dirt is a very British Western, set against the Lake District’s stunning visual backdrop. The Galloways are a family fighting to survive, wrestling with their identity, trauma and the burden of inheritance, as ancient traditions collide with the mores of modern Britain. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Willow and the team at New Pictures to bring this propulsive contemporary thriller to the screen.”