Will “Black Doves” be Netflix‘s answer to James Bond and John Le Carré? Variety reports that Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire join Keira Knightley on the cast of the streamer’s upcoming spy series, which sounds like perfect fare for those who love shaken martinis and suave espionage in equal measure.
READ MORE: ‘The Lazarus Project’ TV Review: Joe Barton’s Clever Sci-Fi Import Puts A New Spin On An Old Concept
Set in Christmastime London, the spy thriller follows Knightley’s Helen Webb, a politician’s wife and professional spy who’s spent years passing on her husband’s secrets to the shadowy organization she works for. But when her lover Jason gets assassinated, Helen’s life goes into a tailspin, with only her old friend, Whishaw’s Sam Young, available for help. The pair try to track down who killed Jason, but Sam, a professional killer, has problems of his own: his last job went wrong, and now it’s coming back to haunt him. As per the show’s logline: “Together, they set off on a mission that will lead them to uncover a vast, interconnected conspiracy, one that links the murky underworld of London to a looming geopolitical crisis — and leads them to question the cost of the moral choices they’ve made.” Also of note: Lancashire plays Helen’s enigmatic spymaster Reed.
Sound great to anyone else? Well, that’s because TV wunderkind Joe Barton writes and creates the series. It’s Barton’s second project for Netflix after his YA fantasy series “The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself.” But the British screenwriter has quite the following in the UK after shows like “The Lazarus Project‘ and “Giri/Haji,” so expect this show to have a quite the buzz surrounding it.
“Black Doves” started shooting in London last week, so expect it on the streamer sometime next year. Additional cast for the series includes Andrew Buchan, Omari Dougles, Andrew Koji, Kathryn Hunter, and Sam Troughton.  Ella Lily Hyland, Adam Silver, Ken Nwosu, and Gabrielle Creevy round out the main cast.
Alex Gabassi and Lisa Gunning share directing duties on “Black Doves.” Barton’s Noisy Bear banner produces with Elizabeth Murdoch‘s Sister and Harry Munday for Netflix. Barton also serves as executive producer with Jane Featherstone, Chris Fry, and Knightley.  
Here’s a press blurb from Barton about how he got started writing “Black Doves”: “I started writing the scripts for this show over last year’s Christmas holidays, fuelled by turkey sandwiches and discarded bottles of cream liquor. To be now going into production with a cast and crew full of people whose work I admire so much is unbelievably exciting and I couldn’t be more thrilled to get to see this show come to life.”
With Knightley and Whishaw starring, “Black Doves” could be a big hit for Netflix when it premieres next year. It could also see Barton get the stateside recognition he deserves. Let’s see what happens with this one.