The television adaptation of Amor Towles’ internationally best-selling novel, A Gentleman in Moscow is coming to the Paramount+ With Showtime network (formerly just Showtime) on March 31. It stars real-life couple Ewan McGregor and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Count Alexander Rostov and actress Anna Urbanova, who connect through run-ins at the Russian Metropol Hotel as Alexander serves a life sentence under house arrest.
A Gentleman in Moscow follows Count Alexander Rostov, who, in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, finds that his gilded past has placed him on the wrong side of history. Spared immediate execution, he is banished by a Soviet tribunal to an attic room in the opulent Hotel Metropol and threatened with death if he ever sets foot outside again. As the years pass and some of the most tumultuous decades in Russian history unfold outside the hotel’s doors, Rostov’s reduced circumstances provide him entry into a much larger world of emotional discovery. As he builds a new life within the walls of the hotel, he discovers the true value of friendship, family and love.
Winstead’s Anna is a glamorous, self-made film star who travels with her mother figure, Olga (Anastasia Hille), around Russia as she books her roles, but the roles are harder to come by as she ages. Alexa Goodall stars as the Count’s unlikely young friend Nina, a resident at the hotel. As fans of the book know, their friendship will have a great impact on them both for years to come.
Johnny Harris stars as the conflicted secret police officer Osip, and Fehinti Balogun stars as Mishka, the Count’s best friend from university. Additional cast includes Leah Harvey, Paul Ready, John Heffernan, Lyès Salem, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson, Dee Ahluwalia, Anastasia Hille, Daniel Cerqueira, Leah Balmforth, Billie Gadsdon, and Beau Gadsdon. See the book characters come to life in the Gentleman in Moscow trailer above.
The eight-episode limited series premieres on Sunday, March 31 at 9/8c, but will be available to the Paramount+ with Showtime app subscribers on Friday, March 29. One episode will air weekly.
A Gentleman in Moscow is produced by Lionsgate Television in association with Paramount. Ben Vanstone (All Creatures Great and Small, The Last Kingdom) serves as executive producer and showrunner on the series, which is the first production to come through Lionsgate’s first look deal with Tom Harper’s company Popcorn Storm Pictures.
Harper (War and Peace, Peaky Blinders) also executive produces alongside Ewan McGregor, Sharon Hughff, Pancho Mansfield, Moonriver TV’s Xavier Marchand, and the novel’s writer, New York Times best-selling author Amor Towles. BAFTA Award-winning director and Emmy nominee Sam Miller (Surface, I May Destroy You, Luther) serves as director to select episodes and executive producer. Sarah O’Gorman (The Witcher, The Last Kingdom) also serves as director.
Meet the Count, Anna, Nina, Mishka, and more in the A Gentleman in Moscow cast gallery below.
A Gentleman in Moscow, Series Premiere Sunday, March 31, 9/8c, Showtime; Friday, March 29, Paramount+ With Showtime