The Prime Video western drama is scheduled to premiere in November.
When we spoke with Chaske Spencer earlier this year about his powerful performance opposite Michael Greyeyes in the gripping drama Wild Indian, he played his cards fairly close to the vest while discussing his next project.
C&I: What can you tell us about your upcoming Prime Video series The English?
Chaske: OK, now it’s my turn to be careful. I’ll state that The English is a series written and directed by Hugo Blick. It stars Emily Blunt and me, with a very amazing supporting cast. And I can also say it’s a western, a revenge-romance/adventure, and I’ve never played a character like this before. I had one of the most fun times ever working on this set. Emily Blunt is just one of the best, most decent and genuine human beings that I’ve ever worked with. But I can’t really go too much into it. I wish I could.
C&I: Can you at least confirm that your character, Eli Whipp, is an ex-Cavalry scout and a member of the Pawnee Nation?
Chaske: Yeah. What’s crazy is that I’m enrolled as Lakota Sioux. So I’m part Sioux, and part Cherokee Creek. I have some Dutch and French in there as well. But I didn’t know anything about the Pawnee. I mean, it wasn’t my tribe. I didn’t know the history of the Pawnee. And I didn’t know that they were scouts at one point, and they took a lot of pride in that. And in The English, well, there’s a saying: My enemy’s enemy is my friend. And during that time and era, there was a lot of fighting over land. And, of course, gold. It was the Wild West.
This week, however, the folks at Prime Video officially spilled the beans about The British, the six-episode series slated to premiere in November. What’s it all about? According to the press release:
“An epic chase Western, The English takes the core themes of identity and revenge to tell a uniquely compelling parable on race, power, and love. An aristocratic Englishwoman, Lady Cornelia Locke (Blunt), and a Pawnee ex-cavalry scout, Eli Whipp (Spencer), come together in 1890 mid-America to cross a violent landscape built on dreams and blood. Both of them have a clear sense of their destiny, but neither is aware that it is rooted in a shared past.
“They must face increasingly terrifying obstacles that will test them to their limits, physically and psychologically. But as each obstacle is overcome, it draws them closer to their ultimate destination —the new town of Hoxem, Wyoming. It is here, after an investigation by the local sheriff Robert Marshall [Stephen Rea of The Crying Game and Interview with the Vampire] and young widow Martha Myers [Valerie Pachner of A Hidden Life and The King’s Man] into a series of bizarre and macabre unsolved murders, that the full extent of their intertwined history will be truly understood, and they will come face-to-face with the future they must live.”
The ensemble cast of The English also includes Rafe Spall (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Tom Hughes (A Discovery of Witches), Toby Jones (First Cow), and Ciarán Hinds (Belfast).
Watch this space for further information and revelations.