Casting Announced for J.K. Rowling's THE CASUAL VACANCY HBO Miniseries

It was recently reported that J.K. Rowling's novel THE CASUAL VACANCY will be adapted into a three-hour miniseries. The 'Harry Potter' scribe will team with premium cable networks HBO and BBC on the project.

Today, Variety reveals that the cast for the project has been announced and will include Michael Gambon, Keeley Hawes, Rory Kinnear, Monica Dolan, Julia McKenzie and Abigail Lawrie.

Gambon is set to play Howard Mollison, owner of the Pagford delicatessen, while McKenzie takes on the role of his wife, Shirley. Rory Kinnear will play Barry Fairbrother, Keeley Forsyth will portray Terri Weedon with Abigail Lawrie cast as her daughter Krystal Weedon. Howard Mollison's son Miles will be played by Rufus Jones and Keeley Hawes has been cast as his wife Samantha Mollison.

Other cast announced Friday include Monica Dolan as Tess Wall; Simon McBurney playing her husband, Colin Wall; Richard Glover ( as Simon Price and Marie Critchley playing his wife Ruth Price; and Michelle Austin to play Kay Bawden.

The Casual Vacancy follows Pagford, described as "a seemingly idyllic English village with a cobbled market square and ancient abbey. Behind its pretty facade, however, is a town at war: rich at war with the poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands and teachers at war with their students."

Sarah Phelps (EastEnders, BBC's Great Expectations) will write the miniseries, which will be produced by Ruth Kenley-Letts (The Hour). Jonny Campbell will direct. Filming is set to get underway this summer in South West England.

Rowling's novel has sold more than six million copies worldwide since it hit bookshelves in 2012, despite receiving a bag of mixed reviews from critics.

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