Sean Bean joins cast of BBC’s epic new World War II drama ‘World on Fire’
Several new cast additions have been announced for the BBC’s World on Fire.
Set during the first year of the Second World War, the new period drama series comes from the makers of Parade’s End and the writer of The A Word, Peter Bowker.
The seven one-hour episodes will open with the German invasion of Poland in September 1939 and end with the Battle of Britain in 1940.
World on Fire began filming in Prague in the Czech Republic in September and will also be filming in Manchester, England and Paris, France.
Yorkshire-born actor Sean Bean, who first became known to period drama fans in Sharpe in the 1990s, has joined the cast this week.
The Game of Thrones and Lord Of The Rings star commented: “I am thrilled to be part of this ambitious drama. Peter Bowker’s study of the human stories that thread through this huge global conflict is fascinating and something I look forward to being part of on screen.”
Also joining the cast is The Inbetweeners star Blake Harrison, seen earlier this year in BBC One’s A Very English Scandal, poet and actor Yrsa Daley-Ward (Today Will Burn), Ansu Kabia (The Long Song) and Ewan Mitchell (The Last Kingdom).
Previously confirmed cast members include Oscar-winner Helen Hunt (As Good As It Gets) and English actress Lesley Manville (Mum, River), alongside Jonah Hauer-King (Little Women), Julia Brown (The Last Kingdom) and Tomasz Kot (Cold War).
The BBC has described the series as “an adrenalized, emotionally gripping and resonant drama following the first year of World War II told through the intertwining fates of ordinary people drawn from Britain, Poland, France, Germany and the United States as they grapple with the effect of the war on their everyday lives.”
World on Fire will air in the UK on BBC One in 2019.