BBC One’s lavish adaptation of War & Peace has found a US home, with A&E, History and Lifetime jointly taking the rights and planning to air the drama simultaneously across all three networks.
Dramatised by Andrew Davies from Leo Tolstoy’s novel, the six-part series is set against the Napoleonic Wars and follows the fortunes of several aristocratic Russian families. Paul Dano leads the cast as Pierre Bezukhov, alongside Lily James as Natasha Rostova and James Norton as Prince Andrei Bolkonsky, with Jim Broadbent, Gillian Anderson and Stephen Rea among the wider ensemble.
The deal sees the three A&E Networks channels share the series in a simultaneous broadcast, a strategy designed to make its US premiere feel like a television event. The drama is a co-production between the BBC and its American and international partners.