Disney Plus has announced that Derry Girls star Louisa Harland will take on the lead role in The Ballad of Renegade Nell – the upcoming adventure series from Happy Valley and Gentlemen Jack creator Sally Wainwright.
Harland – who played Orla on the popular Channel 4 sitcom Derry Girls – will star as Nell, described as “a quick-witted and courageous young woman who finds herself framed for murder and unexpectedly becomes the most notorious highwaywoman in 18th Century England.”
She is joined in the cast by the likes of Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed, who plays a “plucky but prickly little spirit” called Billy Blind, Trigger Point’s Adrian Lester, who takes on the role of Nell’s formidable adversary the Earl of Poynton, and Line of Duty’s Craig Parkinson, who plays Nell’s father.
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Meanwhile, newcomers Bo Bragason and Florence Keen will star as Nell’s two younger sisters Roxy and George, while the cast also includes Alice Kremelberg (The Sinner), Frank Dillane (The Essex Serpent), Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), Pip Torrens (The Crown), Jake Dunn (Get Even) and Enyi Okoronkwo (The Lazarus Project).
The series, which is described by Disney Plus as “a swashbuckling new action and fantasy adventure series” will consist of eight 45-minute episodes, directed by Ben Taylor (Sex Education), Amanda Brotchie (Gentleman Jack) and MJ Delaney (Ted Lasso).
It follows Nell as she “realises that fate has put her on the wrong side of the law for a reason much bigger than she could’ve ever imagined.”
With help from Roxy, George and Billy, she faces off against the Earl of Poynton and his widowed accomplice Sofia Wilmot (Kremelberg) – whose quest for independence becomes indelibly entwined with Nell’s own.
No release date has been provided for the series as yet, nor have any details been given as to when production will begin, but we’ll keep you posted as soon as more information is released.
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