Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis return to lead the cast of Wolf Hall on the BBC, which is coming back for a second series titled The Mirror and the Light.

The first series aired all the way back in 2015 with it being an adaptation of two of Hilary Mantel's novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies.

It followed a fictionalised biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of King Henry VIII.

The Mirror and the Light will be an adaptation of Mantel's final book in her trilogy of the same name.

Speaking with the Radio Times about the show's return, director Peter Kosminsky said: "The Mirror and the Light picks up exactly where Wolf Hall ended, with the execution of Henry VIII's second wife, Anne Boleyn.

"I'm overjoyed to be able to reunite the extraordinary cast we were lucky enough to assemble for Wolf Hall, led by the brilliant Mark Rylance and Damian Lewis, with the original creative team of Gavin Finney (DOP), Pat Campbell (Designer) and Joanna Eatwell (Costume Designer).

"We are all determined to complete what we started – and to honour the final novel written by one of the greatest literary figures of our age, Hilary Mantel."

Speaking about revisiting the show after such a lengthy hiatus, executive producer Colin Callender said: "Returning to Wolf Hall after ten years was like revisiting old friends.

"We'd lived with these characters who are so vibrant and jumped off the screen in the first season, so coming back to them ten years later was as though we were coming home. It was wonderful."

BBC Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light full cast list

  • Sir Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell
  • Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII of England
  • Sir Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey
  • Kate Phillips as Jane Seymour, Queen of England
  • Lilit Lesser as The Lady Mary
  • Dame Harriet Walter as Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury
  • Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton
  • Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Rafe Saddler
  • Timothy Spall as Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
  • Alex Jennings as Bishop Stephen Gardiner
  • Charlie Rowe as Gregory Cromwell
  • Lydia Leonard as Lady Jane Rochford
  • Joss Porter as Richard Cromwell
  • James Larkin as Master Treasurer Fitzwilliam
  • Richard Dillane as Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk
  • Will Keen as Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
  • Hannah Steele as Mary Shelton
  • Paul Clayton as Sir William Kingston

  • Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Bess Oughtred
  • Corentin Fila as Christophe
  • Tom Mothersdale as Richard Riche
  • Karim Kadjar as Eustache Chapuys
  • Lucy Russell as Lady Anne Shelton
  • Will Tudor as Edward Seymour
  • Viola Prettejohn as Mary Fitzroy
  • Thomas Arnold as Hans Holbein
  • Jordan Kouamé as Martin The Gaoler
  • Agnes O’Casey as Lady Margaret Douglas
  • Cecilia Appiah as Nan Seymour
  • Ellie de Lange as Jenneke
  • Hubert Burton as Thomas Howard the Lesser
  • Pip Carter as Sir Geoffrey Pole
  • Josef Altin as Thomas Avery
  • Sarah Priddy as Lady Margery Seymour
  • Hannah Khalique-Brown as Dorothea
  • Amir El-Masry as Thomas Wyatt
  • Didier Vinson as Castillon
  • German Segal as Olisleger
  • Summer Richards as Catherine Howard
  • Dana Herfurth as Anne of Cleves, Queen of England

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When will Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light be on TV?

The first episode of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light will air at 9pm on Sunday, November 10 on BBC One.

In total, there will be six episodes which will air weekly in the same timeslot.

Unlike a lot of BBC shows, the entire series won't release as a boxset immediately, with each episode only becoming available on BBC iPlayer once it has aired.