Former The Killing stars Mireille Enos and Joel Kinnaman are reuniting on a new series. The duo have been cast along with up-and-comer Esme Creed-Miles (Dark River, Pond Life, Mister Lonely), in Hanna, Amazon‘s straight-to-series drama based on Focus Features’ offbeat 2011 assassin pic.
David Farr, who co-wrote the feature, penned the adaptation, which will be directed by Sarah Adina Smith (Legion, Room 104, Buster’s Mal Heart). The series, which hails from NBCUniversal International Studios, is slated to begin production in March across Hungary, Slovakia, Spain and the UK.
Equal parts high-concept thriller and coming-of-age drama, Hanna follows the journey of an extraordinary young girl, Hanna (Creed-Miles), as she evades the relentless pursuit of an off-book CIA agent and tries to unearth the truth behind who she is.
The 2011 film, which earned $63.8M worldwide and $40.3M domestically, was directed by Joe Wright and starred Saoirse Ronan as Hanna, the badass daughter of an ex-government operative who turned into a killing machine and then used all of her assassin skills to try to reunite with her dad.
Enos plays Marissa, an efficient and ruthless agent who has risen up the ranks of the CIA. However, beneath her cool exterior is a deeply buried secret that continues to haunt her. The reappearance of Hanna and her father Erik threaten to expose the past she has worked to repress. Kinnaman plays Erik, a hardened, intuitive and uncompromising soldier and mercenary, who has raised his daughter in the remote forests of northern Poland for the past 15 years. Isolated from the world he once knew, he has trained Hanna in every method of survival, with his only goal being to keep her safe. But his teenage daughter begins to seek freedom from the restricted haven he has created.
In the 2011 movie, Erik and Marissa were played by Eric Bana and Cate Blanchett, respectively.
Creed-Miles’ Hanna feels she must leave the confinement of the forest to experience life, but once in the world, she is hunted by Marissa and others connected to Hanna’s hidden origins and exceptional abilities.
“I’m thrilled that Hanna has managed to attract a visionary director and actors of the caliber of Mireille and Joel to play our adult leads,” Farr said. “And in Esme Creed-Miles I believe we have discovered a star of the future – she is going to be a very special Hanna. Hanna aims to be both a raw-knuckle ride and a deeply touching family drama. It has the visceral excitement of a genuine conspiracy thriller but also the simple humanity of a rites-of-passage drama. Hanna is in a very unusual family. She’s a very special teenager. But all teenagers think they’re abnormal. She’s just a little more abnormal than most.”
Added JoAnn Alfano, EVP Scripted Programming at NBCUniversal International Studios: “It is fantastic to bring together David Farr’s masterful storytelling with the exceptional talents of Enos, Kinnaman, Creed-Miles and Smith. We have the ideal team for crafting an intelligent and uniquely entertaining series that deftly combines thriller, teenaged rite-of-passage story, family drama and action-packed adventure.”
Enos and Kinnaman previously toplined mystery drama series The Killing, which ran for three seasons on AMC and one on Netflix. Enos’ other TV credits include Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams and The Catch. Kinnaman most recently appeared in Altered Carbon and played Phil Conway in House of Cards.
Smith directed Buster’s Mal Heart, starring Rami Malek, which premiered at the 2016 Toronto Film Festival. She also wrote and directed The Midnight Swim, which earned her a Breakthrough Audience Award at the AFI Festival. On the TV side, she has directed episodes of Legion, Room 104 and Wrecked.
NBCUniversal International Studios will produce alongside Working Title Television in the UK. Alfano executive produces for NBCUniversal International Studios and Andrew Woodhead for Working Title Television along with Marty Adelstein, who produced the original film, and Becky Clements of Tomorrow Studios. Tom Coan serves as co-executive producer for NBCUniversal International Studios, and Hugh Warren is producing. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner also serve as executive producers for Working Title Television.
Enos is repped by CAA, Gartner/Green Entertainment and attorney Mitch Smelkinson, Kinnaman by WME and Magnolia Entertainment, Creed-Miles by Conway van Gelder Grant, Smith by WME and Principato-Young Entertainment and Farr by Curtis Brown Group.
Subscribe to Deadline Breaking News Alerts and keep your inbox happy.