Television

SANDITON Trailer Brings Jane Austen’s Unfinished Novel To Life

by Lindsey Romain
Aug 12 2019 • 7:45 AM

Jane Austen is one of the most beloved authors of all time, and in her short life–she died at age 41–gave us notable classics like Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. Her novels continue to influence pop culture, inspiring everything from straight adaptations to the looser variety (like Clueless, based on Emma). Now, one of her famously unfinished pieces of work is getting its day in the sun thanks to PBS’s Masterpiece series. Here’s the first trailer for the upcoming television miniseries, Sanditon.

Austen began work on Sanditon–originally titled The Brothers–in 1817, but stopped after 11 chapters because of her poor health. She died later that year, and Sanditon remained untouched until 1925, when it was published under its new name, though it remained unfinished even in print. It tells the story of a man named Tom Parker who moves to the seaside village of Sanditon intent on opening a large and fashionable health resort. Parker meets the Heywood family and invites their eldest daughter Charlotte to stay at his new resort, opening her world to new excitement and challenges. A revolving cast of characters also move through the story, like the wealthy dame Lady Denham and the West Indian heiress Miss Lambe.

Screenwriter Andrew Davies is adapting Sanditon for Masterpiece and also completing Austen’s story. The project stars Rose Williams as Charlotte Heywood, Kris Marshall as Tom Parker, Theo James as Sidney Parker, Anne Reid as Lady Denham, and Crystal Clarke as Miss Lambe.

While there’s no exact date for Sanditon just yet, the trailer teases that the series will make its way to television screens sometime in 2020. We can’t wait to see Jane Austen’s final work get the attention and adaptation it deserves. If anyone can make it work, it’s Masterpiece, which is known for breathing new life into timeless classics.

Header Image: Masterpiece PBS