It's no longer unusual to see big movie stars sign up for prestige TV shows on premium cable or streaming with shortened seasons. Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon, Nicole Kidman and Julia Roberts are just a few such big name actors who've gladly made the jump recently, while also maintaining their film careers. Now, Emily Blunt, who'll be seen on the big screen in A Quiet Place: Part II in a little over a month, is taking a shot at the small screen in a new show for Amazon.
Our most recent Mary Poppins has singed up to star in The English, which was recently nabbed by Amazon for North American streaming rights. What, exactly, The English will be about is still mostly a secret. In fact, aside from starring Emily Blunt, all we know about the content of the show right now is that it's a western. The new show is being produced by Drama Republic, which was behind the Golden Globe and Peabody-winning spy thriller The Honorable Woman (starring Maggie Gyllenhaal) in 2014.
According to Variety, writer / director Hugo Blick, who was also behind The Honorable Woman, will be leading creative things behind the scenes for The English.
Emily Blunt has been in dozens of movies since getting her first screen credit in Warrior Queen in 2003. She’s lent her talents to many smash hit comedies (The Devil Wears Prada), indie character studies (My Summer of Love, Sunshine Cleaning), action-filled sci-fi brain twisters (Looper, Edge of Tomorrow) and dramas (Sicario, The Young Victoria). But, The English will mark Blunt’s first foray into western territory.
Emily Blunt has also, as you can see from the list of films above, been pretty good at deciding which projects to work on, so while we don’t know much of anything about The English, it’s probably a very solid bet that the show will be worth checking out when it debuts on Amazon. And, considering the types of shows that Hugo Blick has been involved with in the past, it's also likely to lean toward the serious drama side of Blunt's resume.
Another thing that interesting about The English (aside from the fact that Emily Blunt is starring, of course) is that Amazon picked it up. You know who else has a show on the streamer? That's right, Blunt's main man (and A Quiet Place franchise writer / director) John Krasinski, who stars in the very popular spy series, Jack Ryan. I don't really think Amazon bought the rights to The English because of Blunt's connection to Krasinski, but it probably helped that she's also an incredibly popular actress who, as I mentioned earlier, has great taste in material.
There's no word right now on when The English will hit Amazon or how many episodes we'll get to see in Season 1, but stay tuned to CinemaBlend and we'll be sure to deliver the latest. For more on what you can watch right now on the small screen, be sure to check out our winter / spring premiere guide and Netflix schedule!
