FX will be tackling “Taboo” territory with its latest series.
The cable channel has picked up “Taboo,” a period drama from Ridley Scott, Steven Knight (“Locke”) and Tom Hardy, the latter of whom will also star in the series.
The eight-episode series, which was commissioned by BBC One, was created by Knight. The series will also air in the U.K.
Scheduled to begin production in the U.K. next year, “Taboo,” set in 1813, will star Hardy as rogue adventurer James Keziah Delaney, who returns from Africa with 14 ill-gotten diamonds and is bent on avenging his father’s death. Refusing to sell the family business to the East India Company, Delaney sets out to build his own trade and shipping empire and finds himself playing a very dangerous game.
Scott, Hardy and Knight are executive producing, as are Scott Free’s Kate Crowe, Dean Baker of Hardy Son & Baker, and Gene Stein from Sonar Entertainment, which will distribute the project internationally.
“‘Taboo’ is the first major production our company, Hardy Son & Baker, is setting sail on, and it gives me great pleasure to know that we are in partnership with FX and the BBC,” Hardy said. “I believe with the high standard of creative talent — with Steve Knight and Ridley Scott at the helm — and with the support and backing of these two great broadcasters, we have found the perfect home and team for ‘Taboo.’”
“We are privileged to have landed ‘Taboo’ and to work with this exceptional team led by Ridley, Tom and Steven,” FX Networks and FX Productions president of original programming Eric Schrier added. “Tom’s passion for this project, from conceiving the original idea with his father to portraying James Delaney, promises to infuse this epic story with great personal passion and credibility.”
“Taboo” is tentatively slated for a mid-2016 premiere.
“FX is the perfect partner to engage with this dark, fantastic world that Tom and Steven have created,” Scott said of the upcoming series. “We’re glad to have them on board.”