Olivia Colman looks absolutely terrifying in the Great Expectations trailer. In a period drama that harkens back to her Oscar-winning performance as Queen Anne in The Favourite and her Emmy-winning turn as Queen Elizabeth II in The Crown, Colman will play the role of Miss Havisham in Great Expectations. The upcoming limited series serves as an adaptation of the acclaimed Charles Dickens novel of the same name.

Now, FX Networks has debuted the first full-length trailer for Great Expectations. Watch the trailer below:


Over two minutes long, the trailer primarily follows the story's main protagonist, an orphan nicknamed Pip, but it is Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham who steals the show with a portrayal that is equal parts terrifying and conniving.

What Is Great Expectations About?


Both Dickens' famous novel and upcoming television adaptation chronicle the coming-of-age story of Pip, an orphan who yearns for a better life and receives an unlikely opportunity to enter London's high society at the hands of a mysterious benefactor. The 1861 novel contains some of the most celebrated scenes that Dickens wrote, such as Pip being accosted by the escaped convict Abel Magwitch, which is shown briefly in the trailer. Like most of Dickens' stories, Great Expectations explores themes related to poverty, love and rejection, and the triumph of good over evil.

The novel also features a colorful cast of characters that have transcended into popular culture. Many of them have been cast in the upcoming adaptation, including Dunkirk's Fionn Whitehead as the primary protagonist Pip, Colman as the eccentric Miss Havisham, Shalom Brune-Franklin as the beautiful but cold Estella, Owen McDonnell as the unsophisticated yet kind blacksmith Joe, and Johnny Harris as Magwitch.

Great Expectations has been adapted to the screen countless times, most recently in the 2012 film starring Helena Bonham Carter as Miss Havisham. The upcoming series is looking to set itself apart with Colman's chilling depiction as its main attraction and Peaky Blinders' Steven Knight as its creative mind, with Great Expectations being his second Dickens adaptation made in collaboration with the BBC and FX after 2019's A Christmas Carol. Like Knight's last adaptation, Great Expectations should make another one of Dickens' most famous works more accessible when the limited series premieres on March 26 on FX on Hulu.