Based on the novel by Sarah Perry, “The Essex Serpent” will slither onto AppleTV+ May 13. The limited series is comprised of six hour-long episodes.
Perry’s Victorian era novel, published in 2016, is set in 1983 in England. The story follows Cora Seaborne, who has recently been widowed. Cora has a knack for paleontology, and when she catches wind of a possible old serpent creature reappearing in Essex, she sees it as the chance to delve deeper into those interests.
What Cora finds though, is far more complicated than just a town terrorized by a serpent. The villagers cling to religion to explain things they don’t understand, and because nobody has yet seen the serpent, they think it is a form of the devil come to punish them for sinning. They even blame Cora for attracting the serpent at one point.
So who fills out the cast of this new Apple TV+ drama series? Here’s our handy “The Essex Serpent” cast and character guide.
Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes)
Cora is the star of the show, and is played by Claire Danes. Recently widowed (and freed) by the death of her abusive husband, Cora has a burning passion for the natural sciences. She has a son, Frankie, who is watched more by her servants than by Cora herself sometimes. When Cora hears rumors of a mythical serpent sighted in Essex, she heads there to dive back into what she loves, archeology. Cora believes if she can do her own research in Aldwinter, the fictional town closest to serpent activity, she may find bones and other proof that the serpent is a living fossil, or a creature that has escaped evolution.
Danes is known for playing Juliet to Leonardo DiCaprio’s Romeo in Baz Luhrman’s “Romeo + Juliet” (1996). She also played Beth March in the 1994 version of “Little Women,” Julia Vaughan in “The Hours” (2002), and iconic TV roles in “My So-Called Life” (1994-1995) and “Homeland” (2011-2020), for which she won an Emmy.
Will Ransome (Tom Hiddleston)
Will is the vicar of his village, Aldwinter. He takes his duties very seriously in trying to care for his villagers, beyond preaching to them in church. Will is doing his best to dissuade the villagers from believing that there is a serpent out there attacking, trying to persuade them to find comfort in God and faith. Will has studied the natural sciences, but he favors religion, so when Cora first meets him and reveals that she is seeking out the serpent, he brusquely tells her to return to London because there is nothing to find.
Hiddleston is best known for his portrayal of Loki, Thor’s brother and God of mischief, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — both in films and in the new “Loki” series that came out in 2021. Past roles include that of F. Scott Fitzgerald in “Midnight in Paris” (2011), Adam in “Only Lovers Left Alive” (2013) and more recently, Jonathan Pine in the AMC limited series “The Night Manager” (2016).
Dr. Luke Garrett (Frank Dillane)
Dr. Garrett meets Cora when he sees her husband for his medical problems. After her husband refuses a surgery that would save his life, Dr. Garrett keeps an eye on Cora, looking out for her especially when her husband dies. Garrett is a skilled surgeon for his time, constantly willing to perform risky or yet-to-be successful operations, one of which involves an intense heart surgery. When Cora goes to Aldwinter, Garrett visits her, and soon confesses his love, but Cora does not feel the same way about him.
Dillane played Tom Riddle in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” (2009). He also had roles in “In the Heart of the Sea” 2015, “Fear of the Walking Dead” (2015-2018), and “The Girlfriend Experience” (2021).
Stella Ransome (Clémence Poésy)
Stella is Will’s gentle and loving wife. She greets Cora and Frankie and Martha with open arms when they first arrive in Aldwinter. Stella and Cora bond, but Will and Cora bond even more. Stella develops a lingering respiratory disease after coming down with the flu, and later begins to have hallucinations, becoming increasingly fascinated with different shades of blue.
Poésy might be most well-known for playing Fleur Delacour in the later ‘Harry Potter’ films from “The Goblet of Fire” (2005) onward. Other roles she has played include Rana in “127 Hours” (2010), Chloe in “In Bruges” (2008) and Barbara in “Tenet” (2020).
Martha (Hayley Squires)
Squires plays Cora’s servant and nanny to Frankie. She accompanies Cora to certain social events, and to Essex as well. Martha learns of a patient who Dr. Garrett saves with a cutting edge heart surgery, and when she witnesses the recovering man’s living quarters, she starts to take action and targets a city official to fix the squalor in which some people live.
Squires has appeared in “I, Daniel Blake” (2016), “In Fabric” (2018), “Adult Material” (2020) and “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) alongside Benedict Cumberbatch.
Dr. George Spencer (Jamael Westman)
Spencer is Garrett’s right-hand man. Spencer also falls for Martha, and starts to do things to try to get in her good graces, like donate large sums of money to the recovering patient and his sister until they can figure out a solution that will bring about more change.
Westman has had roles in “Kebab” (2014), “Identicals” (2015), “Animals” (2019) and “On the Edge” (2020).
Naomi (Lily-Rose Aslandogdu)
Naomi is one of the first to consider the serpent’s return to Essex when she is out with her sister Gracie in the Blackwater. Naomi is good friends with the Ransome’s daughter Jo, but when Naomi disappears, fear strikes into the hearts of the villagers and they believe there really might be a serpent. Aslandogdu has appeared in “A Monster Calls” (2016), “Modern Life Is Rubbish” (2017), “The Alienist” (2018) and “How to Stop a Recurring Dream” (2020).
