HBO has given a greenlight to six-hour miniseries “Lewis and Clark” and added Matthias Schoenaerts to star with Casey Affleck, the premium cable network announced Friday.
Production will begin in the summer with Affleck in the role of Meriwether Lewis and Schoenaerts as William Clark, telling the story of America’s first contact with the land and native tribes of the country west of the Mississippi River.
The miniseries is executive produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner, Tim Kelly and Adam Leipzig.
“In ‘Lewis and Clark,’ we can see American idealism and the breathtaking natural beauty of the continent, as well as the complexities and tragedies of what came to be known as America’s ‘manifest destiny,’” said HBO’s President of Programming Michael Lombardo in a statement. “We are tremendously excited to bring together this incredible group of talents to tell a seminal American story.”
Schoenaerts is most noted for starring opposite Marion Cotillard in “Rust and Bone,” and will next be seen opposite Carey Mulligan in “Far From the Madding Crowd.” He is represented by CAA.