Ewan McGregor is to star in A Gentleman In Moscow, a new drama series streaming exclusively on Paramount+ internationally, and on SHOWTIME in the US.
Part of Paramount+’s strategy to commission 150 international originals by 2025, the UK production is being adapted from Amor Towles’ internationally acclaimed novel which has sold over 4 million copies worldwide.
McGregor will play Count Alexander Rostov who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past places him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he’s banished to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again.
As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery.
McGregor, who also serves as an executive producer, said: “It’s an amazing, wonderful story and I am very excited to get to play such a fabulous role.”
The series is being produced by eOne in association with VIS, the international studio division of Paramount Global, and is due to commence production later this year for a 2023 debut.
It’s being written by showrunner and executive producer Ben Vanstone (“All Creatures Great and Small”, “The Last Kingdom”) and is the first production to come through eOne’s first look deal with Tom Harper’s company Popcorn Storm Pictures.
Harper (“War and Peace”), who will also executive produce with Xavier Marchand (“Nautilus”) and Amor Towles, said: “The book is a rare and delicious treat and I fell in love with it the moment I picked it up 6 years ago.
“We are thrilled that Amor entrusted this brilliant team with bringing the Metropol to life and couldn’t be more delighted that Ewan will be playing the Count.”