Move over hot girl summer, we’re talking Tudors today, and the fact that there’s a number of new movies and shows set in the 1500s that are either out currently, or coming down the pike in the coming months! Let’s take a look at what’s on the docket for 2024!
Shardlake (2024-)
Shardlake is a murder mystery set during the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. If you are like me and love both beautifully period clothing and gritty murder mysteries, then you should absolutely NOT miss this one. All episodes are available on Hulu/Disney+, and I keep trying to drum up more interest so we will get a second season! The books that the show is based on apparently go all the way into the years following the death of Henry VIII, so there’s going to be loads of costuming content to mine! And Sean Bean plays Thomas Cromwell!
Firebrand (2023)
Released last year in the U.K., this movie about Catherine Parr, Henry VIII’s sixth wife, finally made it stateside and is scheduled to debut in theaters on June 14. The costumes are AMAZING, which shouldn’t be a surprise because the costume department is being led by one of our faves, Michael O’Connor. And Jude Law is playing the appropriately old and and gross version of Henry! Alicia Vikander plays Catherine, and the French hoods are to-die-for!
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (2024?)
No trailers yet of the follow up to 2015’s Wolf Hall, starring Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell and Damian Lewis as Henry VIII, but we did get a sneak peak! The release date is tentatively listed as “late 2024 or early 2025” in the U.K. according to the Radio Times, but owing to the massive success of the first installment, we can likely expect to see it in the U.S. around the same time or shortly thereafter on PBS Masterpiece. The story will cover the last four years of Cromwell’s life before his (there’s no spoilers in history) execution.
All in all, it’s shaping up to be an incredibly good year for historically accurate Tudor flicks (nary a sun-visor French Hood in sight!). We will be sure to update you all as soon as we are able to review these shows, and all the others!
Which upcoming Tudor frock flick are you excited for? Tell us in the comments!
I can’t wait for Firebrand to be released and for your posts about it! The costumes look AMAZING!
Interestingly, one of the later Shardlake novels treats of Katherine Parr and her radical religious sympathies.
We are lucky. Catherine Parr appears in three of the novels. I haven’t yet read ‘Tombland’, so not sure if she is in it. I love Sansom’s portrayal of her.
I love the Shardlake books and am very sorry that the death of C.J. Sansom means there will be no more. The television series based on the first was very good with just a few niggles, but the acting is excellent and Arthur Hughes is superb. Oh, I do hope there will be more.
Another ‘Wolf Hall’ is also to be looked forward to, but, as someone who knows a lot about Tudor history, ‘Firebrand’ looks dire (Anne of Cleeves met an ‘untimely end’; get off it), not least in its portrayal of Catherine Parr. I gave it a miss first time round and won’t go looking for it now. Will look forward instead to a hoped filming of ‘Heartstone’ and ‘Lamentation’ in which C.J. Sansom portrays a Catherine Parr very close to what we do know about her without extra added spicing up for a modern audience.
I so looked forward to Sansom’s portrait of the 20-something Elizabeth. (He was obviously a fan of hers.)
I binge watched Shardlake and then binge read all seven of the books. The three with Catherine Parr are tremendous, not only for her characterization, but for the clarity of how religious practice whipsawed back and forth in 15 years. Bibles okay in English and displayed in each church so anyone can read them; then only propertied men can read them, then removed from the churches, then back, then forth. It must have been terrifying. I hope the TV series continues.
We’re also getting a tv show about Jane Grey around the same time as “Firebrand.”
I hope the fact that there’s no entry for ‘Shardlake’ on letterboxd means, more seasons have at least be planned from the outset. Now it’s just the numbers game that needs to follow suit. While I did not enjoy the costumes as much and it had some lengths it also had cool visuals, a killer cast and – scriptwise – decent clothing content. Would deffo be up for more.
@Katie: The series ‘My Lady Jane’, based on a series of books that are somewhat based on historic fact as well, already published a set of pics. Many new costumes. Many middling to not-so-great designs. And, like the 80ies feature film, it, again, seems very much to aim at a younger audience. Plus some more comedy. At least thats what the codpiece-contest pic suggests.