In the past, Keira Knightley has made it very clear she’s the queen of the corset, appearing in such dramas as Pirates of The Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (in which said corset is literally cut open), Pride and Prejudice, The Duchess and more. Next up, she’ll be in another period drama, this time for television. But she’s dropping the corset for an era that's a bit more daring.
Keira Knightley recently joined the cast of The Other Typist, a Prohibition era-set drama based on the book of the same name written by Suzanne Rindell. The project has already been picked up by Hulu and comes from Searchlight Television and 20th Century Fox television. Knightley will executive produce along with Rindell, Ilene Chaiken – who is also writing – and Oly Obst, per Deadline.
Suzanne Rindell’s book is an interesting one because it is very concerned about getting away from the past Victorian standards and into a modern present where women smoke, they work and they think for themselves. It sort of sounds like it will be a next step role for Keira Knightley, an actress who has long favored or been favored for roles of the corset variety. In The Other Typist, she’ll play Odalie, a co-worker of Rose Baker, who both work for the NYPD in the typing pool.
Keira Knightley previously explained she used to feel guilty about all her roles in period dramas, but as she’s gotten older, she’s finally embracing the gigs and doing jobs that are the types of things she prefers to watch herself (though she only ever watches her own movies once). She said:
For years I felt quite guilty about it, like it was something that I should try to shake off. Then I realized that these were the films I've always loved watching. I think some people find escapism through science fiction or fantasy, and I suppose my escapism into another world has always been through period drama. It's nice that in my 30s I can finally admit that.
Her latest will be a bit different though, given it will be headed to television rather than the big screen. Keira Knightley has done TV in the past, mostly for miniseries like Doctor Zhivago and Neverland. The Other Typist is being set up as an actual series at Hulu, rather than a one off miniseries, though it is based on a book.
The Other Typist had previously been in the works back in 2017 with Keira Knightley and Suzanne Rindell attached. That didn’t pan out, but Hulu seems to be giving the project a big commitment this time around. We’ll let you know if it ultimately makes it to series, but I do like the idea of seeing the actress give a TV series a go.
As it stands Keira Knightley is unlikely to be returning to the Pirates of the Caribbean series and I personally think it would be nice for her to have something else with potential longevity, like a TV series, as a follow-up to that franchise. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
