Eight-part event drama Taboo begins shooting this week in London for BBC One and FX with an international cast including Michael Kelly and Jonathan Pryce now set to star alongside Tom Hardy. The series reunites Hardy with his Peaky Blinders and Locke collaborator Steven Knight who created the period adventure based on an original story by Hardy and his father Chips. Ridley Scott’s Scott Free London and Hardy’s Hardy Son & Baker are producing with Sonar Entertainment distributing worldwide outside the UK.

Hardy plays James Keziah Delaney who returns to 1814 London after 10 years in Africa to discover that he has been left a mysterious legacy by his father. Driven to wage war on those who have wronged him, Delaney finds himself in a face-off against the East India Company, whilst playing a dangerous game between two warring nations – Britain and America.

Joining him are House Of Cards‘ Kelly as American doctor Dumbarton; Pryce as Sir Stuart Strange, the head of the East India Company and Delaney’s nemesis; Oona Chaplin as Zilpha Geary, Delaney’s half-sister; and David Hayman (Macbeth) as Brace, the trusted man-servant.

Further cast includes Jessie Buckley (Shades of Love); Ashley Walters (Get Rich Or Die Tryin’); Jefferson Hall (Vikings); Ed Hogg (White Lightnin’); Leo Bill (Alice In Wonderland); Christopher Fairbank (Guardians Of The Galaxy); Richard Dixon (The King’s Speech); Jason Watkins (The Lost Honour Of Christopher Jefferies); and Nicholas Woodeson (Rome).

As Deadline previously reported, Kristoffer Nyholm (The Killing) is directing. Talent behind the camera also includes Director of Photography Mark Patten whose work includes upcoming sci-fi thriller Morgan for 20th Century Fox; Production Designer Sonja Klaus (Mr. Selfridge); Costume Designer Joanna Eatwell (Wolf Hall) and Casting Director Nina Gold (Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens).

Executive producers are Scott and Kate Crowe for Scott Free; Tom Hardy and Dean Baker for Hardy Son & Baker; and Knight. Timothy Bricknell is producing.