‘Wolf Hall: The Mirror & The Light’: What To Expect From Final Chapter Of Masterpiece Period Drama

deadline.com:

After a staggering 10-year development process, Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will finally make its way to Masterpiece PBS on Sunday.

The final chapter of the adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s novels brings back Mark Rylance as Thomas Crowell and Damian Lewis as King Henry VII for the six-part series written by Oscar winner Peter Straughan (Conclave) and produced by Colin Callender’s Playground and Company Pictures.

The Tudor drama is set in 1535. “We begin exactly where we left off with the death of Anne Boleyn, and we follow Cromwell as he continues to rise and rise to unprecedented heights,” Straughan tells Deadline. “There’s an increasing sense throughout the season of the job of keeping more and more plates spinning at the same time chaos is lurking, and in the end, danger is lurking, as well.” Given limitations on the budget — Wolf Hall director Peter Kosminsky revealed in January that Rylance, as well as the producer, writer and director all gave up a significant proportion of their fees after streamers declined to co-produce Season 2 with the BBC — some stories and characters had to remain on the cutting room floor. “I’m kind of used to it,” admits Straughan. “It happens all the time to varying degrees, and I’m okay with working within practical parameters.

If someone says, we just can’t afford that scene, then you either think of a cheaper way of doing the scene or you cut the scene.