The BBC has revealed the first trailer for Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light, announcing the series premiere on BBC iPlayer and BBC One on Sunday, November 10 at 9 pm, with new episodes released weekly.
Bringing together the original creative team behind the BAFTA and Golden Globe-winning first series, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light is directed by seven-time BAFTA winner Peter Kosminsky, adapted by Academy Award nominee Peter Straughan, and produced by Colin Callender’s Playground and Company Pictures.
A newly released image features Mark Rylance reprising his role as Thomas Cromwell, alongside Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII.
The trailer shows Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) going through the treacherous court of King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis), where he encounters Jane Seymour (Kate Phillips), Henry’s new wife; Lady Mary (Lilit Lesser), Henry’s daughter; Rafe Sadler (Thomas Brodie-Sangster); Gregory Cromwell (Charlie Rowe); Thomas Wriostheley (Harry Melling); Dorothea (Hannah Khalique-Brown); and Sir Geoffrey Pole (Pip Carter), with flashbacks of Cardinal Wolsey (Jonathan Pryce).
The cast also includes Timothy Spall as the Duke of Norfolk, Harriet Walter as Lady Margaret Pole, Alex Jennings as Stephen Gardiner, Tom Mothersdale as Richard Riche, Karim Kadjar as Eustache Chapuys, Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Bess Oughtred, Ellie de Lange as Jenneke, and Lydia Leonard as Jane Rochford.
In May 1536, with the execution of Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, and five of her close allies, Cromwell rises from the bloody turmoil, gaining power and influence. His master, King Henry, finds temporary contentment with his third queen, Jane Seymour.
Cromwell, who has built his position solely on his wits, has neither a powerful family nor a private army to support him.
As he maneuvers through the court’s brutal moral space, he faces the tension between pursuing justice and securing his survival. In a world where Henry VIII has executed his queen, Cromwell knows that no one is truly safe.
Despite internal rebellion, foreign conspiracies, and the constant threat of invasion challenging Henry’s rule, Cromwell envisions a new England ripe for religious reform and innovation. Yet, as fortune shifts, his enemies gather in the shadows, eager to seize their chance.
The lingering question looms: how long can anyone endure under the unpredictable and often ruthless gaze of Henry?
Years in the making and highly anticipated, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light explores the final four years of Cromwell’s life, capturing his rise from self-made man to one of the most feared and influential figures of his time.
Cromwell remains a man of contradictions—both a diplomat and a father, a man who both defied and defined his era.
Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light (6×60’) is a co-production between Playground and Company Pictures for the BBC and MASTERPIECE, with international distribution by Banijay Rights.
Directed by Peter Kosminsky, adapted by Peter Straughan, and produced by Lisa Osborne, the series has executive producers Noëlette Buckley, Peter Kosminsky, and Colin Callender, as well as Lucy Richer for the BBC and Susanne Simpson for MASTERPIECE.
