Watership Down: This ISN'T Peter Rabbit

Watership Down stars James McAvoy, John Boyega & Nicholas Hoult

It's been two years since I first shared the news that the BBC and Netflix were teaming up to bring you a new adaptation of Watership Down, based on the classic novel by Richard Adams. At the time I was blown away by the strength of programming we were seeing on our TV screens. That's only been multiplied in the past couple of years. We are seeing amazing content on our small screens, much of it via Netflix with HBO and Amazon in hot pursuit, it's no wonder movie theaters are seeing less of our entertainment dollars. The four hour-long episode series promises to be more of the same, especially with its all-ages appeal. Watership Down features the vocal talents of James McAvoy as Hazel, John Boyega as Bigwig, Nicholas Hoult as Fiver with Peter Capaldi, Daniel Kaluuya, Gemma Arterton and Ben Kingsley. Beware, while it's billed as all ages, this is no Beatrix Potter fuzzy bunny children story, as you'll note in the trailer below. 

“All the world will be your enemy, and when they catch you they will kill you. 

But first, they must catch you.”

About the book

A worldwide bestseller for more than forty years, Watership Down is the compelling tale of a band of wild rabbits struggling to hold onto their place in the world—“a classic yarn of discovery and struggle” (The New York Times). 

Richard Adams’s Watership Down is a timeless classic and one of the most beloved novels of all time. Set in the Hampshire Downs in Southern England, an idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of “suspense, hot pursuit, and derring-do” (Chicago Tribune) follows a band of rabbits in flight from the incursion of man and the destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they travel forth from their native Sandleford warren through harrowing trials to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society. “A marvelous story of rebellion, exile, and survival” (Sunday Telegraph) this is an unforgettable literary classic for all ages.

Watership Down hits December 22.