The Essex Serpent, Starring Tom Hiddleston And Claire Danes, Gets A Premiere Date On Apple TV+

Apple TV+ has set a premiere date for Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes' new series, "The Essex Serpent." The show will take the acclaimed actors and put them at the end of the nineteenth century for a story that is one part period drama, one part myth. And we can look forward to seeing it all come together on Friday, May 13, 2022.

The streaming service revealed the above date as the day when the first two episodes of the show will drop. The rest of the episodes will debut weekly from then on out until the adaptation of Sarah Perry's award-winning novel of the same name from 2017 reaches its conclusion. The novel won the British Book Awards Book of the Year title, in addition to several other big awards along the way, so the source material here is rich. For those looking to have a slightly better understanding of what's to come, here's the show's official synopsis:

"The Essex Serpent" follows London widow Cora Seaborne (Claire Danes) who moves to Essex to investigate reports of a mythical serpent. She forms an unlikely bond with the village vicar (Tom Hiddleston), but when tragedy strikes, locals accuse her of attracting the creature.

The six-episode series was written by Anna Symon ("Mrs. Wilson." "Deep Water"), with Clio Bernard ("Dark River," "The Selfish Giant") in the director's chair for every episode.

For Apple, this is yet another seemingly impressive brick in the wall for its growing streaming library. Apple TV+ launched virtually at the exact same time as Disney+ and has pretty much been overshadowed in the grand scheme of things ever since. This, despite the fact that Apple has assembled a pretty impressive library of movies and TV shows up to this point, including comedy breakout "Ted Lasso" and the Tom Hanks sci-fi flick "Finch." Still, it does feel like the tech giant has yet to make the sizable impact in the overall scope of the streaming wars that it someday could. Perhaps purchasing Paramount might do the trick?

As for Hiddleston, this was what he managed to squeeze in between seasons of his Marvel show "Loki," which is gearing up for season 2 in the not-too-distant future. Danes, meanwhile, wrapped up her longtime run on "Homeland" in 2020, and this was her first project beyond the role of Carrie Mathison that had defined her career for so long. Danes is also on board the upcoming FX limited series "Fleischman is in Trouble," which is gearing up for production.

"The Essex Serpent" debuts on Apple TV+ on May 13, 2022.