(Photo: Getty Images)
It’s been a minute since we’ve seen casting news for Tom Hiddleston. He starred in 2021’s Loki series, but in that case, all we saw was Loki. He’s making his return to the period genre, set to star in the forthcoming miniseries The Essex Serpent, reports ComingSoon.net.
The Essex Serpent is based on Sarah Perry’s 2016 novel and is heading to Apple TV+ on May 13.
With the story set in 1893, his character is in Victorian garb, but we are seeing hints of the Hiddleston we know from earlier projects, like in 2015’s Crimson Peak. The actor is dressed down — not so supervillain-ish — looking more like himself in the first look photo: 

Hiddleston takes on the role of a vicar named William Ransome, starring opposite Claire Danes as Cora Seaborne. Cora finds herself recently widowed. While she’s sad, she is also relieved, as her marriage was troubled. In an attempt to start over, she moves from London to the coast of England with her young son.
There, she’s introduced to the myth of the Essex Serpent, which is believed to have returned to the area after three hundred years of being dormant. William is just as interested in this myth, which brings the two together.
The New York Times describes the book in a review, saying it’s “part ghost story and part natural history lesson, part romance and part feminist parable.”
Anything with the word “serpent” in it sounds dangerous. Let’s just say, whether it’s mythical or an actual creature, possibly not yet discovered, it’s not friendly. When a young man is unexplainably killed, Cora and the vicar investigate.  
What do you think of this on-screening coupling?