Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Vicky McClure has joined the cast of the new Alex Rider series, from Sony Pictures Television and Eleventh Hour Films, which began shooting today, April 24.

She will play Mrs Jones, a key member of British intelligence. As revealed yesterday, Otto Farrant (right) has been cast as Alex. “I couldn’t be more excited to play such an iconic character as Alex Rider. I loved the books growing up and it is an honour to be able to step into his shoes and give the fans the fresh and thrilling adaptation the series deserves.”

Andreas Prochaska, Director added, “On reading Guy Burt’s terrific scripts I was immediately gripped by their bold combination of tender coming-of-age story and international spy thriller. Guy has really done justice to Anthony Horowitz‘s wonderful source material. I could immediately connect with the characters and I felt that this would be something that I would really enjoy making and then watching with my sons, the youngest one being 16, the oldest 35. “

Brenock O’Connor (Game of Thrones, Living the Dream) plays his jovial best friend Tom. The Rider household consists of Alex’s housekeeper Jack Starbright played by Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo (Been So Long, Doctor Who) and Ian Rider, his detached uncle and reluctant guardian, played by Andrew Buchan (All the Money in the World, Broadchurch). Unbeknownst to Alex, Ian has been relentlessly training him since childhood and preparing him for the threatening world of espionage.

Alex and Tom lead ordinary teenage lives, navigating between school, girls and social lives until Alex’s world is quickly capsized as he is coerced by Alan Blunt, played by Stephen Dillane (Game of Thrones, The Tunnel), to undergo a dangerous, covert mission. Blunt commands The Department, a secret underworld offshoot of MI6, where Ian Rider spent his life as a field agent. Blunt entraps the unsuspecting Alex to work as an undercover agent at the Point Blanc academy. McClure plays Blunt’s second in command, and is aided by colleagues John Crawley, played by Ace Bhatti (Line of Duty, Bohemian Rhapsody) and Smithers, played by Nyasha Hatendi (Casual, Black Earth Rising).

The series is set in both London and The French Alps, where the Point Blanc school is remotely situated. All the students at Point Blanc are troubled teenagers whose parents run successful global businesses, and have found themselves as outsiders due to their upbringing. The Academy is supposedly there to correct their unruly behavior, and becomes home to Kyra (Marli Siu, Run, The Sopranos), who hacked the Tokyo stock exchange costing millions of dollars, James (Earl Cave, Born to Kill) who shot his private tutor with an air rifle, and mysterious others such as Laura (Katrin Vankova, Snatch) Arrash (Nathan Clarke, Tyrant) and Sasha (Talitha Wing, The Feed).

The teenagers are monitored by corrupt principal, Dr. Greif (Haluk Bilginer, Halloween, New Blood) and his manipulative deputy Eva Stellenbosh (Ana Ularu, Siberia, the Witch of the West). Alex, undercover as a troubled teenager, has to call upon skills he didn’t even know he had, as he investigates the sinister truth behind Point Blanc – questioning everything he thought he knew about himself.
The series is directed by International Emmy award-winning Andreas Prochaska (Das Boot, The Dark Valley), and adapted by BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Guy Burt (Bletchley Circle, The Borgias, The Hole). Eve Gutierrez and Jill Green will executive produce for EHF, and Wayne Garvie for Sony Pictures Television.

Anthony Horowitz explained,  “This really seems to be Alex’s year with the 20th anniversary approaching, a new novel on the way and now this brilliant TV series, which I hope will appeal to everyone who grew up with the books.”

Jill Green, Executive Producer, Eleventh Hour Films added: “This eight-part adventure allows us to dig deep into the legend that is Alex Rider. He is both an ordinary teenager that everyone can relate to and an undercover agent plunged into a dark and dangerous world. There’s something for everyone in this thrilling series.”