'Deadline Gallipoli' Crew Boasts 'Game Of Thrones', 'Hannibal' Talent

Aussie cable provider Foxtel has announced the stellar roster of local and international actors who will make up the core cast for its impending World War I mini-series Deadline Gallipoli.

Commencing filming in South Australia today, the show boasts the already announced Hollywood heartthrob Sam Worthington (Avatar, Somersault), who will be joined by the esteemed likes of Hugh Dancy (Hannibal), Rachel Griffiths (Brothers & Sisters, Six Feet Under), Arrow guest star Jessica De Gouw (The Huntress), Bryan Brown (Old School, Two Hands), Fringe leading lady Anna Torv, James Fraser (Devil's Playground), and The Railway Man actor and Ship To Shore alumnus Ewen Leslie.

Excitingly, the show will also feature Bell Shakespeare founder John Bell in his first TV role in more than two decades, as well as the incomparable presence of Game Of Thrones' Charles Dance, who we have all come to know and fear as Lannister dynasty patriarch Tywin on the HBO mega-series.

In addition, Deadline Gallipoli will serve as the debut platform for 2013 NIDA graduate Joel Jackson, who – it must be said – is pretty damned lucky to have snared a gig of this kind of pedigree fresh out of the dramatic institute.

The miniseries will canvass the Gallipoli legend's origin from the perspective of war correspondents Charles Bean (Jackson), Ellis Ashmead-Bartlett (Dancy), Phillip Schuler (Worthington) and Keith Murdoch (Leslie). Dance will portray Gallipoli campaign commander Hamilton, while Brown will step into the boots of General William Bridges, the first Australian major general to be killed during the Great War. Bell will play Lord Horatio Herbert Kitchener.

Meanwhile, the names behind the faces are equally impressive, with Matchbox Pictures – producer of The Slap, Devil's Playground, and Old School, among others – will produce the miniseries in collaboration with Worthington's production company, Full Clip. In addition, US-based Aussie Michael Rymer will be occupying the director's chair, with credits to his name already including shows such as American Horror Story, The Killing, Longmire and Hannibal.

The writing team is drawn from some of the country's premier scriptwriting talent, with Jacquelin Perske (Love My Way, Little Fish), Shaun Grant (Snowtown), Stuart Beattie (Pirates Of The Caribbean, Tomorrow, When The War Began) and Cate Shortland (The Slap, Somersault, Devil's Playground) all signing on to help pen the four-part drama.

Deadline Gallipoli is scheduled to air on Foxtel's Showcase channel next year to coincide with World War I centenary celebrations.