Claire Danes takes over for Keira Knightley as the lead in upcoming series The Essex Serpent

Claire Danes takes over for Keira Knightley as the lead in upcoming series The Essex Serpent… in what will be her first post-Homeland role

It didn’t take long for Claire Danes to jump back in and land another leading role for television. 

Just nine months after wrapping up her role as CIA case officer Carrie Mathison on the hit spy series Homeland, the actress has signed-on to star in period drama series The Essex Serpent for Apple TV+. 

Danes takes over for Keira Knightley, who was originally cast as Cora Seaborne, but had to drop out of the project for personal reasons related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

New gig: Claire Danes will star in the lead role for the upcoming period drama series The Essex Serpent for Apple TV+

The series is based on the 2016 novel of the same name by British author Sarah Perry.

Set in the Victorian era of the 1890s, the drama follows Cora (Danes), a newly widowed woman relishing her newfound freedom from an abusive husband, who moves from London to a small village in Essex.

Not long after arriving, she becomes intrigued by a local superstition: a mythical sea serpent known as the Essex Serpent that has returned to the area. 

Original leading lady: Danes is taking over the leading role from Keira Knightley, who dropped out of the project due to concerns over childcare for her two young children amid COVID-19

Original leading lady: Danes is taking over the leading role from Keira Knightley, who dropped out of the project due to concerns over childcare for her two young children amid COVID-19

Role of a lifetime: Danes only just wrapped her hit spy drama Homeland in April 2020 after eight seasons that debuted back in 2011

Role of a lifetime: Danes only just wrapped her hit spy drama Homeland in April 2020 after eight seasons that debuted back in 2011

The See-Saw production is being directed by Clio Barnard, who’s best known for her work on film The Selfish Giant (2013), and produced by Andrea Cornwell.

Anna Symon will serve as the lead writer. Her resume includes penning the British historical drama series, Mrs. Wilson (2018).

Both Barnard and Symon will also play serve as executive producers alongside Jamie Laurenson, Patrick Walters, Hakan Kousetta, Emile Sherman, and Iain Canning, according to Deadline 

Apple gave the green light and ordered The Essex Serpent to series in August 2020. 

TV gold: The 41-year-old actress first made waves as a leading lady on television when she starred alongside Jared Leto in the acclaimed series, My So-Called Life (1994-1995)

TV gold: The 41-year-old actress first made waves as a leading lady on television when she starred alongside Jared Leto in the acclaimed series, My So-Called Life (1994-1995)

Knightley, who has been labeled the Queen of Period Pieces after starring in films as Pride & Prejudice (2005) and Atonement (2007), was cast as Cora but she pulled out in October over childcare concerns during the pandemic. 

Danes, 41, steps into the series after starring in Homeland for eight seasons, which spanned from 2011 to 2020.

She first made waves on television starring opposite Jared Leto in the acclaimed coming-of-age teen series My So-Called Life (1994-1995). 

The following year the New York City native was paired with Leonardo DiCaprio in the romantic crime tragedy film Romeo + Juliet (1996). 

Among her most celebrated roles:  the HBO film Temple Grandin (2010), for which she played a young woman with autism.

Teen dream team: The New York City native was paired with Leonardo DiCaprio in the romantic crime tragedy film Romeo + Juliet (1996)

Teen dream team: The New York City native was paired with Leonardo DiCaprio in the romantic crime tragedy film Romeo + Juliet (1996)