Emma Corrin Is the New Elizabeth Bennet

Netflix's 'Pride and Prejudice' series has found its Lizzy

Emma Corrin. (Photo: Andrew Toth/WireImage)

Hi friends~

This morning, Netflix announced that Emma Corrin will play Elizabeth Bennet in its upcoming adaptation of Pride and Prejudice. What the streamer did not reveal was that Corrin accepted the role after I turned it down.

I can’t get into the details, but let’s just say there were creative differences. For one, they refused to consider my picks for Mr. Darcy. (Pedro Pascal is not too old!) Anyway: It all worked out in the end. I was told that I could play M’Lynn if Netflix ever produced a remake of Steel Magnolias.

Last October, the news broke that the platform was developing a series based on the Jane Austen classic. I raised an eyebrow at the time. Pride and Prejudice is a sacred text and I worried that actors would be cast for the streaming algorithm (bland, filtered, symmetrical) rather than embody what makes Lizzy Bennet and Mr. Darcy so interesting — both on the page and in beloved screen adaptations like the 1995 miniseries with Jennifer Ehle and the 2005 film starring Keira Knightley. (The best to ever do it.)

Casting is everything, and finding the right Lizzy is nearly impossible — precisely because Austen fans have such high standards. Knightley won them over 20 years ago, and now Corrin will face the critics. The nonbinary actor has got the goods to make a great Lizzy: They are on the cusp of 30 but can pass for 20 (their character’s age); their acting resume shows impressive range, balancing prestige (The Crown) and commerce (Deadpool & Wolverine); and they automatically project intelligence and individuality, which are requirements for playing Lizzy. Or so I was told when I was offered the part.

According to Variety, Netflix’s P&P will be “a faithful adaptation” penned by Dolly Alderton (one of my all-time favorite writers) and directed by Euros Lyn (Heartstopper, His Dark Materials). It’ll go into production in the U.K. later this year. Cue the Regency costumes! The English countryside! The pianoforte! Methinks we’re in solid hands.

“Playing Elizabeth Bennet is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Corrin said in a statement Thursday. “To be able to bring this iconic character to life, alongside Olivia and Jack, with Dolly’s phenomenal scripts, is truly the greatest honor. I can’t wait for a new generation to fall in love with this story all over again.”

dollyalderton

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Meanwhile, Netflix tapped Olivia Colman to portray Lizzy’s meddling mother Mrs. Bennet (perfect) and Jack Lowden to slip on Darcy’s tailcoat. Lowden hails from Scotland (check out his brogue in a recent Colbert appearance) and has starred in the British spy show Slow Horses and opposite wife Saoirse Ronan (chic!) in the period drama Mary Queen of Scots.

Lowden resembles a younger, swoonier Sir Anthony Hopkins with a splash of Russell Crowe. He looks like a real person rather than an AI-generated Adonis. He wasn’t on my shortlist alongside Pascal and Dev Patel, but with Alderton’s seal of approval, I’m willing to give him a chance.

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YOU’VE GOT … A COOKBOOK RECOMMENDATION

When Tara Theoharis’s publisher emailed me and asked if I’d be interested in a copy of her romcom-themed cookbook, I played it cool and waited at least 30 seconds before replying YES. The recipes, created and tested by Tara, are accessible, charming, and inspired. Her deep knowledge of the genre seeps through each page, with references from You’ve Got Mail (featuring an autumnal take on a Manhattan), Red, White & Royal Blue (a trifle with champagne-soaked berries) and, amusingly, Bridget Jones’s Diary (a potato leek soup dyed blue) and Hitch (buttery scallops nestled in endive leaves: the dish that sparked Will Smith’s massive allergy attack).

“Food is a love language,” Tara tells me. “It's obviously mine. It's something that I do to show my love for others and to be able to comfort others. It is a way that you can bring people together, like in Bridget Jones — where the main characters work together in the kitchen to solve a problem. And I think food is intimate, especially when you’re sitting down to dinner. It's a moment where you're learning a lot about each other, about your preferences, about how you eat, about the things that might turn you off or turn you on from someone. And of course, food can be romantic. I mean, if you're playing with your hands and your mouth, it's bringing attention.”

For “Bridget’s Birthday Blue Soup,” Tara stirred in cerulean coloring. “That’s optional,” she says, adding that she wasn’t legally allowed to list the dye as a required ingredient. “Same with the You’ve Got Cocktail recipe. I really wanted to have a little pencil-shaving twist on it, but I was like, ‘This isn't going to fly. I can't encourage people to put pencils in their cocktail.’”

Oh, I know some people who would definitely approve that garnish. Wink, wink.

You can buy The Rom-Com Cookbook here and follow Tara on Instagram here.

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END CREDITS

• Some buzzy books on my radar: Kennedy Ryan’s Can’t Get Enough, Lana Schwartz’s Set Piece and Liquid: A Love Story by Mariam Rahmani.

• Currently, I am loving The Studio on Apple TV as well as Amy Poehler’s podcast, Good Hang, where she talks to the likes of Tina Fey, Quinta Brunson and Martin Short.

• CORY BOOKER. Patriot.

Thanks for reading! I’ve been a bit of a whirling dervish of late, but I’ll be sure to send out this letter on the regular. If you’ve got a pitch or a tip that you think I might be interested in, feel free to drop me a line at erincarlson09@gmail.com.

Warmly,

Erin