At the PBS Annual Meeting, MASTERPIECE Executive Producer Susanne Simpson announced the acquisition of “The Count of Monte Cristo,” calling the TV series “perfect MASTERPIECE fare.”
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The epic 8-episode English-language period drama starring Sam Claflin premieres on MASTERPIECE in 2026. Read about the television series and watch the official trailer below.
“The Count of Monte Cristo” (2024) is a lushly lensed adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ iconic masterpiece. In the epic historical adventure drama series directed by two-time Palme d’Or and Oscar®-winner Bille August (Pelle the Conqueror, The Best Intentions), Sam Claflin (Daisy Jones and the Six, Peaky Blinders) stars as Edmond Dantes, a nineteen-year-old sailor who is falsely accused of treason and imprisoned without trial in the Château d’If, a grim island fortress off Marseille, France.
Jeremy Irons (Brideshead Revisited, The Borgias) plays the imprisoned Italian scholarly priest Abbé Faria who mentors Dantes and reveals to him the location of a vast treasure hidden on the island of Monte Cristo.
After many years of captivity, Dantes finally escapes and recovers the treasure, making him one of the richest men in the world. Under the identity of the Count of Monte Cristo, he plans to take revenge on those who wrongly accused him.
Ana Girardot (The Returned), Mikkel Boe Følsgaardalso (A Royal Affair), Blake Ritson (The Gilded Age), Harry Taurasi (The Borgias) and Karla-Simone Spence (The Confessions of Frannie Langton) also star as Mercédès, Gérard de Villefort, Danglars, Fernand and Haydée respectively.
MASTERPIECE viewers are in for a treat: Filmed across Europe in Paris, Torino, Rome and Malta, the series recently aired in Switzerland, Sweden and in Italy on the country’s state broadcaster RAI, where it became the highest-rating series on RAI in the past three years. Producer Palomar’s chief Carlo Degli Espostii said “Monte Cristo” is an “elegant ensemble piece congenial for the general public“ with “writing that is first and foremost respectful of Dumas’ great book; and a truly high-level cast.”
Dumas’ classic story has been adapted dozens of times since the silent film era, and “The Count of Monte Cristo,” a nearly three-hour French-language film starring Pierre Niney as young Edmond Dantès was released to great acclaim in 2024, becoming France’s biggest film export of the year.
The eight-episode series airing on MASTERPIECE on PBS premieres in 2026: stay tuned for the exact US release date. Watch the trailer below.
Alexandre Dumas’s epic tale of suffering and retribution, inspired by a real-life case of wrongful imprisonment was nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read: read an excerpt from the first chapter, get your copy or listen to an audio sample here.
If you enjoyed this post, wander over to The Period Films List. You’ll also like our announcement about The Other Bennet Sister.
