Production Commences on Starz' THE SPANISH PRINCESS

Starz, a Lionsgate company (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B), announced today production has commenced on the Starz Limited Series "The Spanish Princess," the third installment following the Golden Globe(R) and Emmy(R) award-nominated Starz Original Miniseries "The White Queen" and the critically-acclaimed Starz Original Limited Series "The White Princess." Produced by Playground and All3 Media's New Pictures, the Limited Series is drawn from the global best-selling novels, The Constant Princess and The King's Curse, written by Philippa Gregory. Returning to the world of Tudor royal court intrigue, "The Spanish Princess" is a powerful and epic story told uniquely from the point of view of the women, which also sheds light on a previously untold corner of history: the lives of people of color, living and working in 16th century London.

Acclaimed writer Emma Frost returns (STARZ Originals "The White Queen," and "The White Princess," "The Man in the High Castle"), along with the award-winning writer Matthew Graham ("Life on Mars," "Electric Dreams," "Dr. Who"), both serving as showrunners and executive producers. The first two episodes will be directed by Birgitte Stærmose ("Norskov," Darling), as one of an all-female directing line-up.

Charlotte Hope ("Game of Thrones," Three Christs) has been cast in the titular role as Catherine of Aragon, alongside Stephanie Levi-John ("Top Boy," "Youngers") as her lady-in-waiting and confidante, Lina de Cardonnes. Hope is perhaps best known for her role as Myranda in the HBO series "Game of Thrones," and she recently appeared on ITV's popular series "Endeavor." On the feature side, Hope can currently be seen in Jon Avnet's Three Christs, co-starring alongside Richard Gere and Peter Dinklage which premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. Her other work includes Robert Zemeckis' Allied, James Marsh's The Theory of Everything, and Ralph Fiennes' The Invisible Woman, among others.

Promised in marriage to the future King of England Prince Arthur, played by Angus Imrie ("Hollow Crown," "Kingdom"), Catherine is the source of curiosity, resentment and SUSPICION among her new family; the formidable Margaret Beaufort played by Dame Harriet Walter ("The Crown," "Call the Midwife"), Laura Carmichael ("Downton Abbey," "Marcella") as Arthur's guardian Margaret ("Maggie") Pole, Ruairi O'Connor ("Delicious") in the role of Arthur's charismatic brother Prince HARRY (who will become King Henry VIII), alongside his sister Margaret ("Meg") Tudor played by Georgie Henley (The Narnia franchise, THE SISTERHOOD of the Night) with Elliot Cowan ("Da Vinci's Demons") as King Henry Tudor and Alexandra Moen ("Fortitude," "Dickensian") as Queen Elizabeth. Philip Cumbus ("Girlfriends," "The Importance of Being Earnest") is Thomas Wolsey. When Prince Arthur dies shortly after their wedding, Catherine finds her future as Queen in question and at the mercy of a DIVIDED Tudor court under the threat of enemies both abroad and closer to home.

Also joining the cast are newcomer Nadia Parkes as Rosa, lady-in-waiting to Catherine; Aaron Cobham ("Cold Feet," "Coronation Street") as a young soldier of the Spanish court, Oviedo; Alan McKenna ("Save Me," The Hitman's Bodyguard) as Tudor noble Richard Pole; Richard Pepper ("The Same Sky") as Thomas, Earl of Wiltshire; Olly Rix ("Of Kings and Prophets") as Edward Stafford; and Jordan Renzo ("Class") as Charlie Brandon. Daniel Cerqueira (Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, "Doctor Foster") plays De Fuensalida, ambassador to England and loyal servant of Spanish Queen Isabella, played by Alicia Borrachero ("Morocco: Love in Times of War").

Executive producing with Frost and Graham are Colin Callender ("The White Queen," "The Dresser," "Wolf Hall") and Scott Huff ("Howards End," "The White Princess," "The Missing") from Playground and Charlie Pattinson ("The White Queen," "Requiem," "The Missing 1 & 2") and Charlie Hampton ("Shameless," "Wild at Heart," and "Inspector George Gently") from All3 Media's New Pictures.

Starz retains all domestic multiplatform pay TV and SVOD rights to the series. Lionsgate retains all international and domestic distribution and home entertainment rights.

About "The Spanish Princess"

Catherine of Aragon, is the beautiful young princess of Spain who was promised the English throne since she was a child. She arrives in a grey, rain-lashed England with her glorious and diverse court including her lady-in-waiting Lina. She is Princess of Wales now, but when her husband Prince Arthur dies suddenly, the throne seems lost to Catherine until she devises an audacious plan to set her sights on the new heir, the charismatic and headstrong Prince HARRY who will one day rule as King Henry VIII.

"The Spanish Princess" is the third limited series follow-up to the Golden Globe(R) and Emmy(R) award-nominated Starz Original Miniseries "The White Queen" and the critically-acclaimed Starz Original Limited Series "The White Princess." The latest Limited Series is drawn from Philippa Gregory's best-selling novels entitled The Constant Princess and The King's Curse,

"The White Queen" was the first Starz Original Miniseries to attract more women than male viewers, with women making up 55 percent of the viewership. "The White Queen" also consistently ranked in the Top 10 cable shows for each premiere night * and averaged 4.8 million multiplatform viewers per episode* * * in the United States. "The White Princess" also attracted 57 percent women viewership* and averaged 3.8 million U.S. multiplatform viewers per episode* * *.

About Starz

Starz (www.starz.com), a Lionsgate company (NYSE: LGF.A, LGF.B), is a leading global media and entertainment company that provides premium subscription video programming on domestic U.S. pay television networks and produces and distributes content for worldwide audiences, including its investment in the Starz PLAY Arabia OTT service. Starz is home to the flagship STARZ(R) brand and Starz ENCORE channels and provides high-quality, entertaining premium subscription video programming with 17 premium pay TV channels and associated on-demand and online services, including the Starz app. Sold through U.S. multichannel video distributors, including cable operators, satellite television providers, telecommunications companies, and other online and digital platforms, Starz offers subscribers more than 5,000 distinct premium television episodes and feature films every year and up to 1,500 every month, including Starz Original series, first-run movies and other popular movie and television programming.

About Playground

Playground is a New York and London based television, film and theatre production company founded in 2012 by award-winning producer Colin Callender. It is committed to producing smart, entertaining drama for the screen and the stage bringing together the finest US and UK talent from the worlds of theatre, film, and television. Playground has produced over 65 hours of primetime television drama garnering 15 Emmy nominations, 22 BAFTA nominations, and 12 Golden Globe nominations, including winning a Golden Globe for Best Miniseries. Recent productions include WOLF Hall, the BAFTA, Golden Globe and Peabody Award winning miniseries starring Mark Rylance, Damian Lewis and Claire Foy for the BBC and Masterpiece, and The Dresser, the RTS winning television adaptation of Ronald Harwood's acclaimed play starring Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins and directed by Richard Eyre for the BBC and Starz, The White Princess, a limited series for Starz drawn from the bestselling book by Philippa Gregory, Howards End, Academy Award-winner Kenneth Lonergan's adaptation of E.M. Forster's classic novel starring Hayley Atwell, Matthew Macfadyen and Tracey Ullman directed by Hettie Macdonald for the BBC and Starz, Little Women adapted by Heidi Thomas and starring Emily Watson, Michael Gambon and Angela Lansbury for the BBC and Masterpiece, and King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson and directed by Richard Eyre for the BBC and Amazon. Playground's previous theatre productions on Broadway include: Nora Ephron's Tony-nominated Lucky Guy directed by George C. Wolfe starring Tom Hanks in his Broadway debut, Harvey Fierstein's Tony-nominated Casa Valentina directed by Joe Mantello, the Tony award-winning revival of musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Jez Butterworth's The River directed by Ian Rickson starring Hugh Jackman, and Kenneth Branagh and Rob Ashford's critically acclaimed groundbreaking production of Macbeth at The Park Avenue Armory in New York, and John Tiffany's The Glass Menagerie in the West End. Playground, in partnership with Sonia Friedman Productions, recently opened a production of the West End record-breaking hit two-part play HARRY Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. Other current theatre productions include the Tony Award-winning best musical Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway and, in the West End, in partnership with Sonia Friedman Productions, Casey Nicholaw's Dreamgirls.

About New Pictures

New Pictures was established by Charlie Pattinson, Elaine Pyke, Willow Grylls and Richard Nelson in 2013 to produce television drama for all markets. In its first years of operation New Pictures produced two seasons of the critically acclaimed The Missing for BBC One and Starz, and two seasons of Indian Summers for Channel 4 and WGBH. In the last year, New Pictures productions have included crime thriller series Rellik (6x60') for BBC One and Cinemax, supernatural drama Requiem (6x60') for BBC One and Netflix, and The Innocents (8x60'); a shape-shifting love story for Netflix Originals. New Pictures goes into production on its latest series later this year - Catherine The Great (4x60') for Sky and HBO - a sweeping historical epic starring Helen Mirren. Between them, the executive team have produced or commissioned over a thousand hours of award winning drama for every major UK broadcaster and for HBO, Cinemax, WGBH, CBS, MTV and Showtime in the USA.

Source: Nielsen Live +SD W18+ and P2+ GAA projections (000s) for all airings of THE WHITE QUEEN and THE WHITE PRINCESS during the season

* Source: Nielsen Live +3 HH Coverage Rating for THE WHITE QUEEN episode premiere telecasts

* *Source: Based on Starz internal estimates of linear and time-shifted results from Nielsen (NPower), Rentrak (On Demand Essentials) and internal broadband data. Subject to further qualifications available upon request.

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