# Who would you cast in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 27, 2011, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825 "2011-02-27T18:41:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 29, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/61 "2015-01-29T16:58:10Z")
I definitely need to re-read it again. Someday, someday…! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/62 "2015-03-05T21:15:12Z")
A very short teaser: [http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/12/first-trailer-for-bbcs-jonathan-strange-a-mr-norrell](http://www.tor.com/blogs/2014/12/first-trailer-for-bbcs-jonathan-strange-a-mr-norrell) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/63 "2015-03-05T22:22:21Z")
What about the Duke of Wellington? Both David Troughton and Hugh Fraser played him in _Sharpe_ – too old now? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 5, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/64 "2015-03-05T23:39:08Z")
Could be. Here’s a well-known Goya portrait of the Duke from around that era: [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Duke\_of\_Wellington\_2.jpg](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fd/Duke_of_Wellington_2.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/65 "2015-03-06T02:28:54Z")
Slightly OT but can someone settle an argument for me? Is it pronounced NORRell (NORRuhl) or NorrELL? ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2015, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/66 "2015-03-06T19:23:44Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > Slightly OT but can someone settle an argument for me? Is it pronounced NORRell (NORRuhl) or NorrELL? The first: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo9Iz8H8COU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qo9Iz8H8COU) ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2015, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/67 "2015-03-09T14:22:00Z")
Thank you, and thank you for the supporting evidence – I feel righteously smug now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2015, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/68 "2015-05-18T20:25:51Z")
Big news! British premiere to be on May 17; in the U.S. on June 13: > **[Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV series)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Strange_%26_Mr_Norrell_(TV_series))** > > Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell is a seven-part British historical fantasy TV miniseries adapted by Peter Harness from Susanna Clarke's best-selling 2004 novel of the same name. It premiered on BBC One on 17 May 2015 and ended on 28 June 2015. It was nominated for four BAFTA awards and recognised by the British Film Institute as one of the top ten most important television programmes of 2015. > Set in England during the Napoleonic Wars at the beginning of the 19th century, the series presents an ... [http://www.bbcamerica.com/jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell/](http://www.bbcamerica.com/jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell/) [http://www.feelfilms.co.uk/empire-magazine-strange-norrell-feature/](http://www.feelfilms.co.uk/empire-magazine-strange-norrell-feature/) ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/69 "2015-05-19T08:42:57Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Big news! British premiere to be on May 17; in the U.S. on June 13: > > [Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (TV series) - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Strange_%26_Mr_Norrell_(TV_series)) > [http://www.bbcamerica.com/jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell/](http://www.bbcamerica.com/jonathan-strange-and-mr-norrell/) > [http://www.feelfilms.co.uk/empire-magazine-strange-norrell-feature/](http://www.feelfilms.co.uk/empire-magazine-strange-norrell-feature/) And it was REALLY GOOD. Seriously, while all adaptations have their quirks and compromises they’ve really done a lot to get the tone of this right. Heck, the locations alone are stellar - York is as much a star of the show as the cast are. ---
**Author:** ![NineToTheSky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@NineToTheSky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NineToTheSky)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/70 "2015-05-19T12:56:39Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > And it was REALLY GOOD. Seriously, while all adaptations have their quirks and compromises they’ve really done a lot to get the tone of this right. Heck, the locations alone are stellar - York is as much a star of the show as the cast are. I’m afraid I have to disagree. I’ve read the book and the pictures in my head are so much better - as they usually are. The talking statues in York Minster were like something out of Dr Who - and that’s not a compliment. Marc Warren looks like someone from a David Bowie video. It’s not working for me. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/71 "2015-05-19T14:15:48Z")
> [@NineToTheSky](#): > > I’m afraid I have to disagree. I’ve read the book and the pictures in my head are so much better - as they usually are. The talking statues in York Minster were like something out of Dr Who - and that’s not a compliment. Marc Warren looks like someone from a David Bowie video. It’s not working for me. I did go back and forth on whether I liked Marc Warren but I think they were trying to convey a weird oppressive otherworldliness in his look, sound and demeanour. He wasn’t just a Goblin King-wannabe with tights and a lot of backcombing; he was supposed to be genuinely alien and subtly menacing. Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a8b319/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_wuzzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_wuzzy)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2015, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/72 "2015-05-25T13:50:29Z")
I enjoyed episode 1 but thought the 2nd episode was much better. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/73 "2015-06-11T03:01:37Z")
Here’s the trailer for the miniseries, to start this Sat. on BBC America: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/iE1nsOoTJos/maxresdefault.jpg "Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell: Launch Trailer - BBC One") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE1nsOoTJos) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/74 "2015-06-11T07:49:23Z")
I swear to God when I read the title of the thread I thought you meant [these guys](https://supposedlyfunblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/mr-kidd-mr-wint-diamonds-are-forever.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/75 "2015-06-11T14:35:29Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > I swear to God when I read the title of the thread I thought you meant [these guys](https://supposedlyfunblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/mr-kidd-mr-wint-diamonds-are-forever.jpg). Shame on you! ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/76 "2015-06-11T16:30:06Z")
I’ve got the DVR all set! ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/77 "2015-06-11T16:50:33Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I did go back and forth on whether I liked Marc Warren but I think they were trying to convey a weird oppressive otherworldliness in his look, sound and demeanour. He wasn’t just a Goblin King-wannabe with tights and a lot of backcombing; he was supposed to be genuinely alien and subtly menacing. Whether it continues to work remains to be seen. I like it, though I imagined quite a bit more creepy evil grinning. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2015, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825/78 "2015-06-14T01:52:20Z")
I’ve started a new thread for discussion of the miniseries as it airs on BBC America. Please join us there: [Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell on BBC America - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=759498) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-would-you-cast-in-jonathan-strange-mr-norrell/572825.md?page=3)