‘Watership Down’ Trailer Released

Get ready for a dose of the feels, because the first trailer for Watership Down has officially arrived.

The first official footage from the BBC and Netflix miniseries has made its way online, ahead of its release later this month. You can check it out above.

The trailer doesn’t reveal a whole lot in terms of plot, which could be for the best, considering how dark the original Richard Adams novel is. While early reports have hinted that the project will be decidedly less violent than the 1978 Watership Down film, those involved with the project have hinted that that’s done with good intentions.

“The thing about Watership Down is that it’s an epic adventure story,” producer Rory Aitken told The Daily Telegraph. “It’s not a terrifying, brutal story. I think that in a way we want to restore the reputation that the book should have as one of the great adventure stories of all time. It’s grown this reputation for being scarring and horrific and brutal, and actually that’s not what the essence of the story is. While we won’t shy away from the darkness in the book, visually it won’t be as brutal and scarring. The idea is to bring it to a wider family audience. While Watership Down is never going to be for young children, it will be for the whole family to watch together.”

Watership Down will follow a colony of rabbits who struggle to find and defend a new home.

The series features an ensemble cast with several genre actors including James McAvoy (Split), Nicholas Hoult (X-Men: Apocalypse), John Boyega (Star Wars: The Last Jedi), Daniel Kaluuya (Black Panther), Gemma Chan (Captain Marvel), Taron Egerton (Kingsman), and Sir Ben Kingsley (Iron Man 3).

Other actors attached to the project include Rosamund Pike (A Private War, Gone Girl), Peter Capaldi (Doctor Who, The Thick Of It), Mackenzie Crook (Britannia, Detectorists), Jason Watkins (A Very English Scandal, The Crown), Rory Kinnear (Peterloo, Skyfall), Craig Parkinson (Line Of Duty, Indian Summers), Henry Goodman (Genius, Snatch), Tom Wilkinson (The Happy Prince, Selma), Lee Ingleby (The A Word, Innocent), Charlotte Spencer (Line Of Duty, Glue), and Daniel Rigby (Flowers, Sick Note).

Watership Down is set to debut on the BBC and Netflix on December 23rd.