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EXCLUSIVE: Dame Harriet Walter has joined Ridley Scott’s new epic, The Last Duel, the revenge story that stars Matt Damon, Jodie Comer, Adam Driver and Ben Affleck. Based on Eric Jager’s novel, the script is by Damon, Affleck and Nicole Holofcener. Shooting is just getting underway with filming due to take place in Ireland and France.

Damon and Driver play best friends, the Norman knight Jean de Carrouges and the squire Jacques Le Gris. De Carrouges goes to war and returns to accuse Le Gris of raping his wife Marguerite. No one will believe the woman, and the soldier appeals to King Charles VI of France to undo a decision handed down by Count Pierre d’Anencon, which favored Le Gris. The decision is that the two men fight a duel to the death. The one left alive would be declared the winner as a sign of God’s will. And if de Carrouges loses, his wife will be burned at the stake for punishment for her false accusation.

Walter, whose credits include HBO’s Succession, Rocketman, Downton Abbey and recent Sundance pic Herself, is due to play the mother of Damon’s de Carrouges, and mother-in-law to Comer’s Marguerite.

This has been a busy time for veteran Walter who is reteaming with Comer after having joined Season 3 of AMC/BBC America’s Killing Eve which premieres in April. Also out in early April is Downton creator Julian Fellowes’ Epix/ITV series Belgravia in which Walter stars. She is currently leading the cast of Sky Atlantic’s The End. Walter is repped by Hamilton Hodell in the UK.

The Last Duel originated at Fox and will be released by Disney on Christmas Day this year domestically. International rollout begins January 8, 2021.