War of the Worlds trailer: BBC unveils first look at long-delayed HG Wells adaptation

Rafe Spall and Poldark’s Eleanor Tomlinson star

The first trailer for the BBC’s new adaptation of HG Wells’s The War of the Worlds has been released.

Rafe Spall, Eleanor Tomlinson, Rupert Graves and Robert Carlyle star in the three-part series, about a collection of Brits waging war against an alien invasion.

Spall and Tomlinson are George and Amy, a couple attempting to begin a new life together in London at the same time as aliens from Mars arrive on earth.

“HG Wells’ seminal novel has been adapted for the screen many times, but it’s always had a contemporary (and American) setting,” director Craig Viveiros said in a statement. “This is the first version to be set in London... during the Edwardian period.”

Writer Peter Harness added: “The version of The War of the Worlds that I wanted to make is one that’s faithful to the tone and the spirit of the book, but which also feels contemporary, surprising and full of shocks: a collision of sci-fi, period drama and horror.”

The trailer marks the first significant footage from the series, which has been in development for nearly three years. After being greenlit by the BBC in 2017, the series didn’t enter production until early 2018, when Spall and Tomlinson were cast as its leads and filming began in Liverpool.

An official release date for The War of the Worlds has yet to be announced, but the trailer teases that it will debut on BBC One this autumn.