(Note: a previous version of this post assumed screenwriter Diana Reid was the TV director from Handmaid’s Tale. It appears screenwriter Diana Reid is instead the novelist of that name. This post has been revised accordingly.)

Daisy Edgar-Jones, whom some people were hyping as a potential Lizzie Bennet in the Netflix Pride and Prejudice before Emma Corrin got the role, has been cast as Elinor in a new S&S adaptation.

The production companies include Working Title Films, which was involved in Emma 2020, and Focus Features, which was also involved in Emma 2020 (plus P&P 2005 and Nosferatu 2024). Costume designer Grace Snell mostly does contemporary horror movies, of the kind that don’t feature diaphanous nighties or anything else that might offer a hint to how she would handle period clothes. Director Georgia Oakley’s main qualification seems to be that she made a movie about a woman tormented by a deeply personal secret (Blue Jean, about a closeted lesbian teacher). Screenwriter Diana Reid’s main qualification seems to be writing a novel (Seeing Other People) about a conventional-acting sister and a more free-wheeling one caught up in a messy bisexual love quadrangle where they end up stealing each other’s love interests. You can kind of vaguely see where S&S might have influenced them or intersected with story tropes they already cared about.

I’ve never seen Edgar-Jones in anything except stills, and unlike the Netflix P&P leads, she has no period pieces under her belt. She would have been a good physical type for Lizzie Bennet (dark hair, large dark eyes, tans easily), less so for Elinor, who’s said to be fair and not tall (Edgar-Jones is five-foot-six, pretty tall for a woman). However, her face has a sadness in repose which might work for Elinor. As far as the “Iphone face” complaints go, I’ve seen stills where she had Iphone face and stills where she didn’t. If they keep her from inflating her lips she should be fine.

Anyway, I’ve had thoughts about adapting S&S in the past, so here, have a bunch of links:

Minireviews of Sense and Sensibility Adaptations

Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, The Dashwoods and Ferrarses

Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Rest of the Characters

Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in Sussex

Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in Devonshire

Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Story in London

Adapting Jane Austen: Sense and Sensibility, the Rest of the Story