Pride and Prejudice Dolly Alderton TV series: Jack Lowden in talks for Mr Darcy

Who’s your defining onscreen Mr Darcy?

Is it Colin Firth and his wet shirt? Matthew Macfadyen and his bedroom eyes? Or maybe Laurence Olivier and his satin smoking jacket?

There’s another version of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice in the works, a Netflix series to be written by author, columnist and podcaster Dolly Alderton.

The production has seemingly found its Mr Darcy. According to Variety, Slow Horses star Jack Lowden is in talks to play the aloof but kind-hearted Fitzwilliam Darcy, the object of Elizabeth Bennet’s frustrations and passions.

Lowden, 34, is best known for his role as River Cartwright in the droll spy drama led by Gary Oldman, but he has also appeared in a range of TV and film projects in the past decade including Wolf Hall, War & Peace, Small Axe, Dunkirk, Kindred and A United Kingdom.

Lowden recently told The Sunday Times he almost quit acting in his late 20s until he was cast opposite his now-wife, Saoirse Ronan, in Mary Queen of Scots.

“I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t feel like I fitted into the personal of an actor,” he said. “There was me at 27 thinking about stopping because I felt self-conscious or like I didn’t know how to do it.

“Then watching this 23-year-old carry the weight of a huge film like that with ease and grace and majesty, it was remarkable to watch. She makes it look so easy, like breathing. It was totally inspiring.”

Lowden and Ronan married in 2024.

As for the lead role of Elizabeth, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Emma Corrin have previously been rumoured to be in contention.

Mr Darcy is one of the most iconic characters in British literature and has become a template for a romantic ideal who seems, at first, frosty but is roiling with suppressed emotions.

Helen Fielding based her Mark Darcy character in the Bridget Jones books on Austen’s creation, and specifically drew on Firth’s performance opposite Jennifer Ehle in the 1995 BBC miniseries.

The most recent “straight” adaptation was the 2005 Joe Wright-directed movie starring Keira Knightley and Macfadyen but Austen’s novel has also served as inspiration for Pride & Prejudice-adjacent screen projects.

Matthew Rhys played Mr Darcy in Death Comes to Pemberley, a murder mystery “sequel” while Sam Riley took on the role in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, based on the novel.

The 2022 comedy Fire Island recasts Austen’s story as a contemporary love story in the LGBTQI community with writer and actor Joel Kim Booster in the Elizabeth-esque role and Conrad Ricamora as the Mr Darcy stand-in.

There’s no timeline on when this new Pride and Prejudice will be released but if they haven’t confirmed all the casting, it seems unlikely it’ll be ready in time for the 250th anniversary of Austen’s birthday this December.

Netflix shows tend to spend many months in post-production to allow for, among other things, dialogue dubbing into several languages.

Alderton had previously adapted her fictionalised memoir, Everything I Know About Love, into a 2022 miniseries.

She is best known for her novels which also includes Ghosts and Good Material, and also writes a column for The Sunday Times, and co-hosted The High Low podcast.