Production begins on The Little Drummer Girl

On the heels of the wildly successful and award-winning series The Night Manager, The Ink Factory, BBC and AMC announce next John lLe Carré project The Little Drummer Girl.

The Little Drummer Girl stars Screen Actor’s Guild, Emmy and Golden Globe award-winner Alexander Skarsgård (Big Little Lies, True Blood, Tarzan) as Becker. Twice Academy Award nominated Michael Shannon (The Shape of Water, Nocturnal Animals) will take on the role of Kurtz and BAFTA nominated Florence Pugh (Lady Macbeth) will play Charlie.

When brilliant young actress Charlie (Pugh) strikes up an acquaintance with an intriguing stranger while on holiday in Greece, it rapidly becomes apparent that his intentions are far from romantic. The man is Becker (Skarsgård), an Israeli intelligence officer, who entangles her in a complex and high stakes plot orchestrated by Spymaster, Kurtz (Shannon). Set in the late 1970s yet sharply contemporary, The Little Drummer Girl weaves a dynamic and exciting story of espionage and international intrigue, love and betrayal.

The six-part international thriller marks the television debut of visionary filmmaker Park Chan-wook (Old Boy, The Handmaiden, Stoker). The award-winning director will helm all six hours bringing his epic cinematic sensibility to the small screen.

Primetime Emmy nominated Jina Jay (The Night Manager, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) cast The Little Drummer Girl and joining the stellar line up are Michael Moshonov (The City and the City) as Litvak, Charif Ghattas (After the Ashes) as Khalil, Amir Khoury (Fauda) as Michel, Katharina Schüttler (Dogs of Berlin) as Helga, Simona Brown (Kiss Me First) as Rachel, Max Irons (Condor, Terminal, The Wife) will play Al and Charles Dance (And Then There Were None, Game of Thrones) will step into the role of Picton.

Oscar-nominated production designer Maria Djurkovic (The Imitation Game, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Mamma Mia) will bring The Little Drummer Girl heightened accuracy and a rich detail to the world of late 1970s counter-culture, while BAFTA winner and Academy Award nominated costume designer, Sheena Napier (Howards End, Enchanted April, Parade’s End) and BIFA Award Winner Nicole Stafford (The Death of Stalin) will work together to add detailed authenticity to the costume, make-up and hair design.

Highly-acclaimed Korean cinematographer Woo-hyung Kim (Assassination, The Front Line, Late Autumn) will work closely with Park Chan-wook to bring a soaring cinematic texture to Charlie’s journey and nominated Primetime Emmy and BAFTA Award-Winning film editor Lucia Zucchetti (Game Change, Boy A, The Queen) joins them.

The six-part mini-series based on John le Carré’s best-selling literary masterpiece of the same name has been adapted by Mike Lesslie (Macbeth) and Claire Wilson (Partners in Crime). Laura Hastings-Smith (Howards End, Macbeth, Hunger) will work as Producer with Simon and Stephen Cornwell serving as Executive Producers alongside John le Carré, Joe Tsai, Arthur Wang, Mike Lesslie, Wonjo Jeong, and Park Chan-wook. Mona Qureshi is the executive for the BBC and Kristin Jones is the executive for AMC.