Get yer first look at Ankh-Morpork! BBC America has released its first set of photos from the set of its upcoming Discworld adaptation, The Watch, and we finally have an idea of what Vimes, Carrot, Cheery, Angua, Carcer Dun, and Lady Sybil will look like.
Although BBC America describes The Watch as an adaptation of the Discworld series’ City Watch novels, some key changes have led some fans to consider it more of a reimagining of Terry Pratchett’s characters. Back in November, the network released a casting announcement that included Anna Chancellor as Lord Vetinari (whom the actor described as “combining characteristics of Dracula and Elvis”), Jo Eaton-Kent as Constable Cheery (who is now an “ingenious non-binary forensics expert, ostracized by their kin and finding a new home and identity”), and Lara Rossi as Lady Sybil Ramkin (who is now the “last scion of Ankh-Morpork’s nobility…trying to fix the city’s wrongs with her chaotic vigilantism”).
Other cast-members include:
- Richard Dormer as Sam Vimes, “Captain of The Watch, disempowered by a broken society that’s reduced his department’s jurisdiction to almost nothing”
- Adam Hugill as Carrot Ironfoundersson, “the idealistic new recruit, raised by dwarfs, but really a human abandoned at birth”
- Marama Corlett as Corporal Angua, “tasked with Carrot’s training and keeping the rookie alive”
- Sam Adewunmi as Carcer Dun, “the wounded and wronged Carcer Dun, out to hijack destiny itself, take control of the city and exact a terrible revenge on an unjust reality”
- James Fleet as The Archchancellor, “a wizard, magical advisor, and the Head of the Unseen University”
- Ingrid Oliver as Doctor Cruces, “Head of The Assassins’ Guild”
- Ruth Madeley as Throat, “the city’s best snitch, with a gang of freelance henchmen at her beck and call”
- Hakeem Kae-Kazim as Captain John Keel, “former leader of The Watch and mentor to Sam Vimes, determined to save the corrupt and chaotic city”
- Bianca Simone Mannie as Wonse, “a wizard hopeful in waiting that is frequently underestimated”
After the first look photos were released, the official Terry Pratchett Twitter account posted a link to a 2004 Slate article by Ursula K. Le Guin in which she criticized the Sci Fi Channel’s white-washed adaptation of her Earthsea novels. The link was posted with no further commentary or context, but some fans in the replies have interpreted it as a response to BBC America’s adaptation.
— Terry Pratchett 🖤 🤍 (@terryandrob) January 17, 2020
