Academy Award winner Helen Mirren is joining the second season of Audible’s hit Sherlock Holmes audio drama, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Mirren will play Lady Milverton in the second season of the fictional podcast, titled Moriarty: The Silent Order. Her character will act as nemesis to Professor James Moriarity, played by The Lord of The Rings actor Dominic Monaghan.
The series will also feature a number of new cast members, including The Witcher’s Anya Chalotra, Band of Brothers’ Ross McCall, and The Knick’s Arielle Goldman, alongside returning cast members including Phil LaMarr as Sherlock Holmes, Billy Harris as JJ Moriarty, and Curtis Armstrong as Gregson.
“Moriarty has always been such an enigmatic character to me and exploring his world through this medium fueled my imagination,” said Monaghan. “I’m delighted to continue telling his story. I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed working on it.”
This is Mirren’s first role in a podcast drama, amid many TV and film productions taking a pause due to the ongoing Hollywood strikes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mirren is allowed to participate in this project, as it does not fall under SAG-AFTRA TV/Theatrical Agreements. Audible already has an agreement with the union under its Audiobooks division, which considers original audio content as non-struck work.
“It was lovely to be part of the rich, beautifully realised world of Moriarty,” said Mirren in a statement. “It’s fun for me to take on a villainous role, and I particularly enjoyed delving into the different dimensions of Lady Milverton. This story was my first podcast drama, and I couldn’t imagine a more exhilarating story as an entry into the format.”
The podcast is produced by Treefort Media, a production company that has worked with Audible on a number of podcast titles, such as science-fiction audio drama Upgrade Soul starring Suits’ Wendell Pierce and Uncoupled’s Marcia Gay Harden, and other fiction podcasts including Killing Hollywood: The Cotton Club Murder and Fishpriest.
Audible continues to invest in celebrity-frontend audio dramas, with the company recently announcing the upcoming launch of its new Charles Dickens adaptation of David Copperfield, starring Doctor Who and Sex Education’s Ncuti Gatwa. Other celebrities that joined the cast list include Harry Potter’s Helena Bonham Carter, The White Lotus’ Theo James, Wild Rose’s Jessie Buckley, The Hobbit’s Richard Armitage, Slow Horses' Jack Lowden, and Detectorists’ Toby Jones.
