THE SHAPE OF WATER director Guillermo del Toro was attached to the Carnival Row project for eleven years (at one point developing it as a feature film) before Amazon put in an eight episode series order… and soon after, del Toro had to abandon the helm over scheduling issues. VICTOR FRANKENSTEIN's Paul McGuigan then took over as director of the series. A month into production, McGuigan also vacated the director's seat. He has been replaced by Jon Amiel, whose credits include COPYCAT, ENTRAPMENT, and THE CORE.
Carnival Row is set in
a noir, Victorian-tinged city called the Burgue, where humans, fairies and other creatures co-exist. A detective investigates a serial killer who is preying on mystical creatures, only to find that he has become the prime suspect in the murders.
Orlando Bloom stars as a police inspector who investigates the murder of a faerie showgirl. His co-stars include Cara Delevingne as a fairish refugee, David Gyasi as a mysteriously wealthy faun, Karla Crome as a quick-witted faerie love poet, Indira Varma as the matriarch of the family that rules the Burgue, and Tamzin Merchant as a member of an artistocratic family.
The casting of two more actors has now been announced.
Andrew Gower (pictured above in Outlander) will be playing the brother of Merchant's character, "Ezra Spurnrose, the scion of one of the most prominent families in the Burgue. When a business deal sours he finds himself under financial straights and reluctantly agrees, at his sister Imogen’s behest, to enter into a partnership with a wealthy Puck who has moved in across the street. When he begins to suspect that Imogen is falling in love with the Puck, Ezra will stop at nothing to protect his family’s reputation."
Jamie Harris has signed on to play Desk Sergeant Dombey, "a tough police officer in the neo Victorian city who strongly believes in the old rule of life and resents the growing influx of foreign fairies and pix."
Bloom serves as producer of the show, with showrunner Rene Echevarria and Travis Beacham, who wrote the original feature screenplay, executive producing.
Carnival Row is expected to reach Amazon sometime in 2019.