Over the years, Emily Blunt has done a little bit of everything, with a long list of incredible movies that includes some of the best horror movies with A Quiet Place and its sequel, Disney adventure films like Jungle Cruise, great sci-fi flicks like Edge of Tomorrow and Looper, and so much more. But while she has a great deal of accomplishments on the big screen, Blunt has yet to lead a TV show. That will soon change with the arrival of the BBC and Amazon Prime Video Western series, The English.
If this is the first you’re hearing of the new streaming series, worry not, because we are about to break down the show, its release date, cast, and other key information that should give a glimpse at what you can expect when The English Season 1, with all its chaos and revenge, stakes its claim on the 2022 fall TV premiere schedule.
The English Premieres November 11th On Prime Video
There isn’t all that much time to wait before The English gets here, as the Emily Blunt-led Western series is slated to premiere Friday, November 11, 2022 on Prime Video. But those who don’t have an Amazon Prime subscription and live in the U.K. aren’t out of luck, as the new Western drama series will also debut on BBC Two the same day. This should make for a bloody and fantastic way to kick off the weekend.
Emily Blunt And Chaske Spencer Lead The Show’s Cast
The Western genre has long featured well-rounded characters with epic and sometimes tragic backstories filled with betrayal, loss, and misery, and it sounds like The English will be no different when the series premieres on Prime Video in mid-November.
This starts with Emily Blunt’s Lady Cornelia Locke, an aristocratic Englishwoman, who comes and finds a new life in the American West after experiencing a tremendous tragedy. Joining Lady Cornelia on her journey through the heart of darkness is Chaske Spencer’s Eli Whipp, a Pawnee and former U.S. Cavalry scout, who forms a bond with the newcomer in the vast openness of the West.
Other members of The English cast include Stephen Rea as local sheriff Robert Marshall, Valerie Pachner as a young widow named Martha Myers, and a group of actors in undisclosed roles that includes Rafe Spall, Tom Hughes, Toby Jones, and Ciarán Hinds.
The Series Centers On An Englishwoman Who Travels To The American West Seeking Revenge
A lot of the great Westerns center on tales of revenge, redemption, or a combination of the two, and judging by the official synopsis for The English, the new Amazon streaming series is going to have all of that and more. The show will center around Emily Blunt’s Lady Cornelia Locke as the Englishwoman from high society comes to the vast and dangerous landscape of the American West with one goal and one goal only: to avenge the death of her late son. At the premiere of the show’s pilot episode in October 2022, Blunt had this to say about the story, per The Hollywood Reporter:
I opened the script and couldn’t stop. It was heart-stopping and gripping, and startlingly beautiful, so I knew I was in immediately. When it came to just being a part of it all in all its entirety, it just seemed to make sense for this project.
But, Lady Cornelia won’t be alone on her righteous mission as she will be joined by Chaske Spencer’s Eli Whipp, who will do anything in his power to keep the Englishwoman from suffering the same fate as her late son.
Hugo Blick Created, Wrote, And Directed The English
Sergio Leone, John Ford, and Clint Eastwood are just three legendary filmmakers who have added to the annals of Western history with classics like The Searchers, Once Upon a Time in the West, and Unforgiven over the years. There have also been some great Westerns released more recently that have captured the spirit of the past while also taking it in a new direction. Hugo Blick, the creator, writer, and director of The English, will look to follow in the footsteps of legends and more modern filmmakers with the new streaming series and its tale of murder, revenge, love, and rebirth. At the show’s premiere in October 2022, Blick had this to say about working within the realm of Westerns, per Variety:
Jimmy Stewart once said that the Western is the purest form of cinema. It’s one person, or now a woman and a man, in a big space alone. The bigger the space, the bigger the pressure on them.
While it is true that Blick had yet to make a Western prior to creating The English, he does have a great deal of experience with shows like The Honourable Woman, The Shadow Line, and Black Earth Rising. He also knows a thing or two about movies that touch on revenge, as he played a young Jack Napier (he killed Bruce Wayne’s parents) in Tim Burton’s Batman.
The English’s Trailers Offers A Taste Of Action, Drama, And Sweet Revenge
Prior to the release of The English, viewers were able to sample a taste of the show’s action, drama, and sweet revenge when Amazon released a brief teaser trailer. The short video, which primarily focuses on Emily Blunt’s heroine and Chaske Spencer’s Eli Whipp as they team up to bring justice to the West, is full of enticing scenes, great back-and-forth quips, and some of the most beautiful scenery ever put on display on an Amazon show. Take a look:
There are also some incredibly terrifying and mysterious scenes on display throughout the teaser trailer, but we’ll have to wait and explore those when the show arrives.
All Six Episodes Of The English Will Be Released Together
Amazon typically follows two release models for its shows — one where all episodes are released at once like Upload, and another where the episodes are released on a weekly basis, like The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Well, The English will fall into the former camp, as all six episodes of the Emily Blunt-led Western will be available on Friday, November 11th, according to Variety.
There isn’t much longer until The English makes its streaming debut, but you can make time speed up even more by watching some of the best Amazon original series while you wait.
