casting couch

Kit Harington and Liv Tyler Will Star in Guy Fawkes–Inspired Historical Drama Gunpowder

Photo: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

Ever wish Jon Snow would stop fighting for justice with swords and instead just blow up King’s Landing already? Well, Kit Harington will attempt (but — spoiler alert for history — fail) at just that in BBC’s upcoming three-part drama Gunpowder. Based on the real Gunpowder Plot of 1605, the historical drama will follow a group of rebellious English Catholics who plan to bring Catholicism back to the British monarchy by using explosives to destroy the House of Lords and assassinating Protestant king James I. Deadline reports that Harington will play the plot’s mastermind, and, allegedly, the actor’s real-life ancestor, Robert Catesby, and Liv Tyler will play his cousin, Anne Vaux. It’s unclear who will play Guy Fawkes, the member of the crew who was found with all the explosives that gets all the attention and the fun holiday named after him, but Mark Gatiss (Sherlock’s Mycroft Holmes) will play principal bad guy, Robert Cecil, the king’s spymaster and torturer of Catholic priests. With Jon Snow, Arwen, and Sherlock’s brother onboard, so far the casting is one Doctor Who alumnus shy of making nerds everywhere lose their minds.

Kit Harington and Liv Tyler Join Historical Drama Gunpowder