David Morrissey to lead in the BBC’s The City and The City
BBC has announced that David Morrissey will play the lead role of Inspector Tyador Borlú in the upcoming series, The City and The City. Tony Grisoni and Tom Shankland will adapt the novel from one of Britain’s most popular fantasy writers, China Miéville, in to a four-part TV thriller series.
Fans know David as The Governor (aka Phillip Blake) in seasons three and four of The Walking Dead and most recently starred in The Missing and Extant. Morrissey says: “I am delighted to be working with the brilliant Tony Grisoni again on this exciting project. I am a huge fan of the original book“. He heads up the cast which includes Mandeep Dhillon, Maria Schrader, Ron Cook, Danny Webb, and Christian Camargo.
The premise of The City and The City from a recent BBC press release says “The body of a foreign student is discovered in the streets of the down at heel city of Besźel. Cases like this are run of the mill for Inspector Tyador Borlú of the Extreme Crime Squad – until his investigations uncover evidence that the dead girl had come from another city called Ul Qoma. But the relationship between the two cities defies comprehension and will challenge everything Borlú holds dear.”
Author China Miéville says: “It’s been fascinating and moving to witness the translation from fiction to script, and to work with Tony (Grisoni) and Tom (Shankland) and everyone on this production. What they’re making feels both familiar, sending me right back to the book, and yet very much their own, something I’m eager to discover. I’m extremely impatient for it!”
The show is set to be filmed on location in Manchester and Liverpool, England this year, series premiere to be announced.