June 30, 2008

AMC Casts Numbers Six and Two for The Prisoner

Caviezel to be sent to Village, McKellen the new Number Two.

By Steve Goldstein

AMC has cast Jim Caviezel (The Thin Red Line) as Number Six, and Ian McKellen as his jailor and inquisitor, Number Two, in its new version of Patrick McGoohan's allegorical spy series from the 1960s, The Prisoner. The six-part miniseries will premiere sometime in 2009, and is being co-produced by AMC, ITV Productions and Granada International.

The original series was produced by McGoohan's Everyman Films and ITC and premiered in the U.K. in 1967. In 1968 and 1969 it aired in the U.S. on CBS as a summer replacement series, and in the mid-1980s began appearing on PBS stations, as its cult grew. Co-created by Danger Man/Secret Agent star Patrick McGoohan, who directed and wrote several episodes, The Prisoner follows the frustating trials of a British intelligence agent (McGoohan) who has resigned from his job without giving his superiors a reason for his actions. Before he can leave the cloak and dagger behind for good, he is taken to a seaside prison called the Village, stripped of his name and physically and psychologically tortured by a succession of Village leaders (all referred to as Number Two) in an effort to find out why he resigned. Number Six is on his own quest: to learn the identity of Number One and destroy the Village.

Bill Gallagher (Conviction, Clocking Off, Lark Rise to Candleford) is the writer and executive producer of AMC's version of The Prisoner. Trevor Hopkins is the producer; Jon Jones is directing. McGoohan is not involved in the project, according to an AMC spokesperson.