EXCLUSIVE: The Watch, BBC America’s eight-episode series based on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld novels, has cast its first main character.

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British actor Adam Hugill (Pennyworth) has landed one of the lead roles in the series, playing Carrot.

Described as a “punk rock thriller” inspired by the City Watch subset of Discworld novels, the character-driven series centers on Pratchett’s misfit cops as they fight to save a ramshackle city of normalized wrongness from both the past and future in a perilous quest.

The Watch features such Discworld creations as City Watch Captain Sam Vimes, the last scion of nobility Lady Sybil Ramkin, the naïve but heroic Carrot Ironfoundersson (Hugill), the mysterious Angua, and the ingenious forensics expert Cheri together with Pratchett’s iconic characterization of Death.

Hugill’s Carrot was raised as a dwarf but turned out to be an orphaned human child. He joins the group after pursuing a career in law enforcement.

Written by Simon Allen, BBC Studios is co-producing the series with Narrativia, the production company founded by Pratchett in 2012 and now run with Pratchett’s daughter Rhianna and his former business manager Rob Wilkins.

The series is being exec produced by BBC Studios’ Head of Drama London Hilary Salmon, Ben Donald and Wilkins as well as Phil Collinson.