Former Daredevil actress Joanne Whalley will join the fantasy world of Carnival Row on Amazon Prime Video. Whalley appears as Sister Maggie, Matt Murdock’s mother, in the third season of Daredevil. Carnival Row producer and former Daredevil showrunner Erik Oleson revealed that she’d be joining the Amazon series during a conversation with fellow former Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight for #SaveDaredevil Con. Oleson noted that he also brought another Daredevil alum, Jay Ali, who played FBI agent Ray Nadeem, into Carnival Row. He then mentioned Whalley also joining Carnival Row before realizing that news wasn’t public yet, and he probably wasn’t supposed to bring it up.
In July 2019, Amazon renewed Carnival Row for its second season. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne star in the series. The show’s setting is a Victorian fantasy world inhabited by mythological immigrant creatures that are feared by humans. In the midst of this, a human detective and a faerie rekindle a dangerous affair just as the city’s fragile peace falls apart amidst a series of murders that reveals a monster no one knew about.
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Bloom plays human detective Rycroft Philostrate, who has an affair with Cara Delivigne’s faerie refugee Vignette Stonemoss while investigating homicides in the area. The series also stars David Gyasi as Agreus, Tamzin Merchant as Imogen Spurnrose, Andrew Gower as Ezra Spurnrose, Karla Crome as Tourmaline, Arty Froushan as Jonah Breakspear, Caroline Ford as Sophie Longerbane, Indira Varma as Piety Breakspear, Jared Harris as Absalom Breakspear, and Simon McBurney as Runyan Millworthy.
Amazon picked up Carnival Row in January of 2015. At the time, the series had Gullermo del Toro attached to co-write, executive produce, and direct. He co-wrote the script with Travis Beacham and Rene Echeverria, based on A Killing on Carnival Row, a spec script Beacham wrote in 2005.
Whalley is a British actress. She’s appeared in films including Dance with a Stranger, Willow, Scandal, Storyville, The Secret Rapture, and Mother’s Boys. She’ known best for her television work. She was nominated for a BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for her performance in BBC series Edge of Darkness in 1985.
“Joanne is a rare talent and a terrific creative collaborator,” Oleson said of Whalley when she joined the Daredevil cast. “Watching her bring her role to life has the writers all pinching ourselves.”
Carnival Row began production on its second season in November 2019. Production came to a halt in March when the coronavirus spread throughout the world. Preparations to resume production were underway in May.
Update: This story originally erroneously stated that the conversation took place during Comic-Con at Home. It was part of the #SaveDaredevil Con event taking place the same weekend. The story has been corrected.
