A first trailer for the final Wolf Hall series has been released showing Thomas Cromwell telling a mysterious figure to “have the axe” ready.
Adapted from the third book in Dame Hilary Mantel’s historical trilogy, the BBC show Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light will chart the final years of Cromwell’s life as he deals with an increasingly unstable royal patron.
Returning is Oscar winner Sir Mark Rylance, who earned a Bafta for his role as politician and diplomat, Cromwell, and Homeland star Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII.
A teaser, released by the BBC on Wednesday, has a voiceover saying: “You have few friends Cromwell, they don’t know how to deal with you.”
As flashbacks of the fall of Cardinal Wolsey (Sir Jonathan Pryce), and Cromwell meeting Henry’s new wife, Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips), and Princess Mary (Lilit Lesser), are shown, Sir Mark says: “When negotiation and compromise fail, then your only course is to destroy your enemy.”
He is also accused of always bringing “the bad news” by Henry as the monarch complains that his “own daughter”, Princess Mary, future Queen Mary I, “defies me”.
Clips of the six-part season are also shown of Henry being furious, and Cromwell being startled awake in bed as the statesman tells a person: “Have the axe in your hand.”
The new series, which opens in May 1536, is adapted by Academy award nominee Peter Straughan, who worked on Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and directed by Peter Kosminsky.
It will see scheming adviser Cromwell, a man with only his wits to rely on, emerge from the bloodbath after Queen Anne (Claire Foy) is beheaded as a force in politics, while Henry enjoys short-lived happiness with his third queen, Jane.
Joining the cast is Killing Eve’s Dame Harriet Walter as Lady Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, one of the last surviving members of the House of Plantagenet, and Mr Turner actor Timothy Spall, playing the Duke of Norfolk, uncle to Henry’s wives Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, along with Alex Jennings as Stephen Gardiner.
Sherlock star Mark Gatiss had previously portrayed prominent Catholic bishop Gardiner, the duke had been played by The Lord Of The Rings film series star and late actor Bernard Hill, and Singing Detective star Janet Henfrey was the original Lady Margaret.
The Mirror And The Light was the final novel published in Dame Hilary’s lifetime, before her death in 2022 at the age of 70.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror And The Light will begin on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on November 10 at 9pm,
