Alias Grace has set her debut.
Netflix’s six-hour miniseries about convicted murderer Grace Marks, the next streaming Margaret Atwood adaptation, will release globally Friday, Nov. 3. The series will first broadcast on Canada’s CBC.
A 45-second teaser released Monday along with the premiere news introduces Grace (Sarah Gadon), a poor, young Irish immigrant and servant in Upper Canada who, along with stable hand James McDermott (Kerr Logan), was convicted of the brutal murders of their employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his housekeeper and lover, Nancy Montgomery (Anna Paquin), in 1843. Nancy, who initially befriended Grace, fired her in a fit of jealous rage before she was found brutally murdered.
“I think of all the things that have been written about me,” narrates Marks of herself in the clip. “That I am an inhuman female demon. That I am an innocent victim of a blaggard, forced against my will and in danger of my own life. That I am cunning and devious. How can I be all of these different things at once?”
She then adds, “I’d rather be a murderess than a murderer — if those are the only choices.”
James was hanged and Grace was sentenced to life imprisonment until she was eventually exonerated after 30 years in jail. She became one of the most notorious women of 1840s Canada for her alleged role in the sensational double murder and her conviction sparked debate about whether she was an unwitting accessory. The Netflix adaptation, like Atwood’s novel, will introduce a fictional young doctor named Simon Jordan who researches the case and falls in love with Marks.
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Alias Grace is inspired by Marks’ true story and is based on Atwood’s award-winning novel of the same name. Alias Grace, which follows Hulu’s critically acclaimed Atwood adaption Handmaid’s Tale, is written and produced by Sarah Polley (Looking for Alaska, Take This Waltz, Away from Her) and directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho, I Shot Andy Warhol). The series is a co-production with Halfire Entertainment, CBC and Netflix. Polley, Harron and Noreen Halpern executive produce.
Watch the teaser below.
