Trailer and start date revealed for ‘Downton’ star’s new ‘War of the Worlds’ series

Another version of War of the Worlds is heading to our TV screens this spring!

Following the BBC’s three-part period drama last year, which was set in Edwardian England, this latest adaptation of H.G. Wells’ classic sci-fi novel is set in present-day Europe.

The eight-part series comes from the producers of Merlin and Atlantis.

Leading the cast is American actress Elizabeth McGovern, best known for playing Cora in all six seasons of Downton Abbey.

The cast also includes Gabriel Byrne (In Treatment), Léa Drucker (Le Bureau des Légendes), Natasha Little (Press), Daisy Edgar Jones (Silent Witness), Stéphane Caillard (Genius), Adel Bencherif (The Prophet) and Guillaume Gouix (The Returned).

War of the Worlds premieres in the US at 9/8c on Sunday 16th February on Epix.

It’ll then launch in the UK with a double-bill at 9pm on Thursday 5th March on Fox UK.

Watch the trailer:

 

The official synopsis reads: “When astronomers detect a transmission from another galaxy, it is definitive proof of intelligent extra-terrestrial life. The world’s population waits for further contact with bated breath. They do not have to wait long. Within days, mankind is all but wiped out by a devastating attack; pockets of humanity are left in an eerily deserted world.

“As aliens hunt and kill those left alive, the survivors ask a burning question – who are these attackers and why are they hell-bent on our destruction? Emotional, cinematic and rooted in character, it is a unique marriage of human drama and the best science fiction.

“This is a story of ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances – but they are more than just victims in a brutal war. For, as we will come to realize, the aliens’ savage attack on earth is not arbitrary: its seeds are being sown before our very eyes.”

Watch the Australian trailer:

 

Elizabeth McGovern last year revealed the shock news that she doesn’t expect to return as Cora in the second Downton Abbey movie.

H. G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds novel is available on Amazon.