Lalala, I can’t hear your treason anymore!
For those of you that aren’t familiar with the series, A Discovery of Witches follows historian Diana Bishop, the last of the Bishop witches descended from Bridget Bishop, who was hanged in the Salem Witch Trials, and Matthew Clairmont, a 1,500-year-old vampire scientist/geneticist/literal Renaissance Man. When Diana discovers a long lost manuscript with a magical history, they are hunted by witches, vampires, and daemons alike who want to get their hands on the book. I’ve also heard it referred to as “Twilight for the tweedy set” which you KNOW the fans didn’t appreciate. These are grown-ass women, thankyouverymuch.
But there’s no denying it – these are smart books with a brilliant number of historically accurate Easter Eggs waiting to be found. There’s time travel and academia and supernatural romance, and vampires. Oxford, France, Elizabethan England, Prague, and upstate New York in the fall. It’s like a Pinterest board of all my favorite things. I’ve read it (and its sequels Shadow of Night and The Book of Life) multiple times and it still makes me go like this:
And then this week Deborah Harkness put out this announcement:
Bless. She’s an author, historian, and maybe a magician, (and super kind and devoted to her characters and fans) and she’s clearly OVER THE MOON so we’re going to cut her some slack about her nervous delivery and just be excited with her. The TV series is set to begin filming in the next few weeks, with the lead characters played by Teresa Palmer (Warm Bodies, I Am Number Four, Hacksaw Ridge) and Matthew Goode of Downton Abbey.
Years ago, when I started following this fandom, there was an attempted grassroots movement to get Richard Armitage to play Matthew Clairmont (Armitage4Clairmont 4EVA) but…Matthew Goode? Is a damn fine choice.
You guys. This is very, very good news. These actors have serious cred, and as an aside, they both look almost exactly how I pictured the characters when I was reading the books.
Teresa Palmer is perfection. She’s just the right mix of earthy, witchy, intelligent, and ethereal.
Even the most devoted of fans, those of us who belong to the All Souls Trilogy Facebook page (which, let me tell you, was a fascinating place to be between book releases, HOOOO) were thrilled with the news, even if perhaps, he wasn’t exactly “their” Matthew. He wasn’t mine either, I was firmly devoted to Richard Armitage, but I am more than willing to give him a chance.
And just like his character Matthew (dammit, this is going to get really confusing), Matthew Goode loves wine too! In the Discovery of Witches world, wine is one of the only other things vampires will enjoy drinking.
I love him already.
Deb Harkness herself said that he was “her” Matthew so basically, I’m like
I had moved on with my life (like, not really, just to new obsessions). And now I am once again listening to the audiobooks on my drive to work and seeking out the playlists on Spotify. (This is a whole thing we can talk about another time. The playlists. The All Souls convention. This fandom might fly under the radar but they are FOR REAL).
Matthew and Teresa, I just really, really hope someone has given you a heads up about the brand of fandom you are stepping into. These are people who hunted through myriad Wikipedia articles and history books to discover the past lives of their favorite book vampires. They searched out every obscure fact they could find about alchemy and Christopher Marlowe and Queen Elizabeth. And now you’re their latest research project.
Are you excited about the adaptation of A Discovery of Witches? Where my witches at? Haven’t read the series yet? Start with A Discovery of Witches
Let me know in the comments what you think of the casting news so far! Who do you want to see as the other characters?
