Richard Adams’ Watership Down (released in 1972) is one of the best-selling books of all-time, and it’s inspired quite a few different adaptations over the years. The critically acclaimed version from 1978 is brilliant, but dark enough that it’s making headlines for scaring children to this very day, while a kid friendly series followed that in 1999.

Now, a new CGI version is in the works from writer Tom Bidwell (My Mad Fat Diary), while those all important special effects are being worked on by Fantastic Mr Fox’s Pete Dodd.

This new take on Watership Down will be told over four episodes which air on BBC One in the UK and on Netflix across the rest of the world. It’s currently set to be released next year.

It’s been confirmed that the stars lending their voice talents to the project will be James McAvoy (X-Men) as Hazel, Nicholas Hoult (Mad Max: Fury Road) as Fiver, Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3) as General Woundwort, John Boyega (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens) as Bigwig, Gemma Arterton (Hansel and Gretel) as Clover, Miles Jupp (The Thick of It) as Blackberry, Freddie Fox (Pride) as Captain Holly, Olivia Colman (The Night Manager) as Strawberry, and Anne-Marie Duff (Suffragette) as Hyzenthlay. That’s quite the lineup, eh?

More details will no doubt be released over the coming months, but this take on Watership Down should be well worth keeping an eye on, especially with the BBC and Netflix involved.

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3 COMMENTS

  2. I love Watership Down, I read the book as an 8 year old after seeing the film when I was 7. It really disappoints me now that people are complaining about it, calling it ‘dark’ and saying there’s too much violence. All I remember from the first time I saw it was being in floods of tears when Hazel died!
    I really don’t think this will be as good a the original if it’s not keeping true to the book, which has the ‘dark’ theme and violence in.

  3. The original Film was so true to the book in terms of mood, that’s something I don’t think many of the complaining viewers of the original don’t get . Reading it (before I saw the film) I remember the sense of menace from the Owsla , the panic at what the warren was facing and the terrors that the escapees faced . I have a feeling that the new version will not get that same reality that the original captured. It will be interesting to see how it deals with Fiver’s visions too .

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