Despite being about the lives of a bunch of cute, sympathetic bunnies, Richard Adams’ Watership Down is full of harrowing danger, betrayal, death and hard-won bloody triumphs. And that holds true in the first full trailer for the new miniseries adaptation.
Watership Down has been adapted numerous time, into animated television and theater — but undoubtedly its most famous on-screen incarnation is Martin Rosen’s 1978 film version. Famous, at least, for having quite a bit more blood and terrifying rabbit fights than many kids were prepared for.
But, in the words of Lord Frith, the creator god of Watership Down’s robust rabbit mythology: “All the world will be your enemy, and when they catch you they will kill you. But first, they must catch you.”
A co-production between the two broadcasters, this adaptation of Watership Down stars a who’s-who of British actors, including Peter Capaldi, Daniel Kaluuya, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley — with a core cast of James McAvoy as Hazel, John Boyega as Bigwig and Nicholas Hoult as Fiver. The series will be released on Netflix and the BBC on Dec. 22, and consist of four one-hour episodes.
