British actor Keira Knightley will star in Apple TV
Plus’ series adaptation of author Sarah Perry’s 2016 novel The Essex Serpent. Knightley
will also be the executive producer of the series.

Acclaimed filmmaker Clio Barnard is likely to direct
the period drama, according to an entertainment website Deadline.

It is Knightley’s
second commitment to a streaming TV project in
the past few months.

The story is set in 1893 and revolves around a newly widowed woman Cora,
played by the British actor, who, having being released from an abusive
marriage, moves from Victorian London to a small village in the county of
Essex. She is fascinated by a local superstition that a mythical creature known
as the Essex Serpent has returned to the area.

The adaptation has been penned by Anna Symon.

Jamie Laurenson, Hakan Kousetta, Patrick Walters, Iain
Canning, and Emile Sherman will also executive produce the show alongside
Barnard and Symon.

See-Saw Films will produce the series for the
streaming platform.

The 35-year-old actress will also star in and
executive produce a limited series for Hulu based on Suzanne Rindell’s novel
The Other Typist.