Ever since the BBC adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s beloved Discworld universe first gave us a look at its take on Ankh-Morpork’s city watch, fans have been mixed about just what kind of show The Watch is actually going to be. That might not change seeing it in action, but BBC America is hoping to make a bang with a familiar face in its first footage.
Just dropped as part of the show’s first-look New York Comic Con panel, BBC America has given us not just the first teaser for the fantastical cop show set in the most famous city in Pratchett’s beloved fantasy saga, but also three clips introducing us to the motley crew that makes up Sam Vimes’ (Richard Dormer) roster of guards in the titular Watch. Check out the trailer below!
Also announced at the panel were four more pieces of casting for the show. What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry will provide his voice to Wayne, a “magical speaking sword” that sounds quite like Hrun the Barbarian’s sword Kring in The Colour of Magic. But perhaps most intriguingly of all for Discworld fans is the confirmation that Pratchett’s iconic, beloved version of the Grim Reaper, Death, will indeed play a part in the series, being voiced by The Wire’s Wendell Pierce. Check him out in action in the first of the three clips here
On the guest appearances front, Game of Thrones’ Paul Kaye will play the Duke of Stab, Inigo Skimmer, a member of Ankh-Morpork’s Assassin’s Guild who falls afoul of the City Watch, while Ralph Ineson (Chernobyl, and, uh, also Game of Thrones actually) will join the Watch as Sargeant Detritus the Stone Troll, one of Vimes’ closest friends in the Watch.
The Watch is set to begin on BBC America on January 4 2021. Stay tuned for news of an Australian release date.