Get to Know the Cast of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light
It’s been a decade since the premiere of the award-winning series Wolf Hall on MASTERPIECE, and now, the premiere of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light. Get to know the cast including original Wolf Hall cast members such as Damian Lewis, Mark Rylance, and Kate Phillips, plus new additions to the series such as Timothy Spall, Charlie Rowe, and more.
- 1.
Damian Lewis as King Henry VIII
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Lewis is perhaps best known for his roles in series such as HBO’s award-winning 2001 miniseries Band of Brothers; Showtime’s Homeland, for which Lewis won a Primetime Emmy Award in 2012 and a Golden Globe award in 2013; and Showtime’s Billions for a whopping seven seasons, from 2016-2023. He starred in the TV mini-series A Spy Among Friends in 2022, which earned him a Satellite Award nomination in 2024, and also appeared in the award-winning Quentin Tarantino film Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood in 2019 as popular 1960s and 1970s American actor Steve McQueen.
Did You Know? In 2023, Lewis released an album called “Mission Creep” after returning to his musical roots (in his early twenties, he even busked around Europe, according to the Independent) and recording his own rock and jazz-tinged songs during the COVID-19 lockdown. “Life is short – it took a pandemic for me to sit down and write some songs. And that was a lot of people’s experience, I think, wondering what life would be like after lockdown.”
- 2.
Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Aside from his BAFTA Award winning performace as Cromwell, Rylance may be best recognized from his starring role alongside Tom Hanks (Forrest Gump, Philadelphia) in Bridge of Spies, for which Rylance won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2016. He also appeared in films such as Academy Award winning WWII drama Dunkirk and Steven Spielberg’s The BFG. In 2020, he appeared in The Trial of the Chicago 7 and won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture for the project.
Did You Know? Outside of Wolf Hall, Rylance has worked with director Peter Kosminsky in two other riveting projects: The Undeclared War in 2022, and The Government Inspector in 2005.
- 3.
Kate Phillips as Jane Seymour
Where You May Have Seen Her Before: MASTERPIECE fans will surely recognize Phillips as the one and only Eliza Scarlet, the stubbornly clever first female detective in Victorian London, in Miss Scarlet (which has just been renewed for a sixth season). Aside from her hit MASTERPIECE Mystery! role, Phillips appeared in a number of roles including Linda Shelby in Peaky Blinders Seasons 3 to 6; Venetia Scott, secretary to Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in Season 1 of The Crown; and as Princess Mary, the daughter of King George V, in the 2019 Downton Abbey film.
Did You Know? “Wolf Hall was my first-ever audition,” Phillips told Entertainment Weekly in 2019. “I was completely green to the whole experience and I remember reaching out to the one person in my year group who had ever done an audition and he gave me some tips as to how to attack the whole situation.”
- 4.
Jonathan Pryce as Cardinal Wolsey
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Around the same time as his original run as King Henry XIII’s almoner and confidant, Cardinal Wolsey, Tony Award-winning veteran actor Pryce was also making waves as the High Sparrow in Seasons 5 and 6 of Game of Thrones. Since then, Pryce has appeared in a number of series and films including The Wife (2017), MASTERPIECE’s To Walk Invisible The Brontë Sisters (2017), as the late Prince Phillip in the final two seasons of The Crown, and as yet another Cardinal in 2019’s The Two Popes (playing Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now known as the current Pope Francis). Most recently, he’s appeared in the BAFTA Award winning TV series Slow Horses, which first premiered in 2022.
Did You Know? Pryce isn’t just an award-winning television actor — he’s also a Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning stage actor. Pryce won his first Tony Award in 1977 for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role in Comedians, and won a second Tony Award in 1991 for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in Miss Saigon. Pryce earned his first Olivier Award (for Actor of the Year in a Revival) in 1980 for Hamlet, and another in 1990 for Best Actor in a Musical for his role in Miss Saigon.
- 5.
Lilit Lesser as Lady Mary
Where You May Have Seen Them Before: Prior to their role as the devout Princess Mary (King Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon’s daughter), Lesser appeared in series such as Vanity Fair in 2018 and The Queen’s Gambit — in addition to Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light co-star Thomas Brodie-Sangster, and starring Anya Taylor-Joy from The Miniaturist — in 2020.
Did You Know? Acting on MASTERPIECE series runs in the family. Lesser’s father Anton Lesser (Game of Thrones), who also appears in Wolf Hall as Thomas More (later canonized as St. Thomas More in the Catholic Church), starred in the MASTERPIECE Mystery! series Endeavour as Chief Superintendent Reginald Bright for all nine seasons of the show.
- 6.
Harriet Walter as Margaret Pole
Where You May Have Seen Her Before: Throughout her decades-long career, Walter has appeared in quite a number of hits on the silver screen and the big screen. She starred in the 1995 film Sense and Sensibility, based on the Jane Austen novel, as Fanny Dashwood, alongside Emma Thompson, Kate Winslet, and more. More recently, Walter has appeared in TV series such as Ted Lasso, Succession, and The Crown, and in films such as Rocketman and Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens. MASTERPIECE fans may also recall seeing Walter in series such as Downton Abbey as Lady Shackleton and Little Dorrit as Mrs. Gowan.
Did You Know? Walter had a famous uncle whose name you’ve probably heard — the legendary Christopher Lee. Lee, who passed away in 2015, was known for his roles in series such as Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and Dracula. “I visited my uncle, the actor Christopher Lee, in Hollywood when I was young,” she told The Telegraph. “The last call we had was on his 93rd birthday, and he complained that he hadn’t worked for a few weeks!
- 7.
Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Rafe Sadler
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Fans of all ages may recognize Thomas Brodie-Sangster from a number of projects over the years, including the hit holiday film Love Actually in 2003 and Nanny McPhee in 2005 when he was a young child, to later roles in Game of Thrones, The Maze Runner series, and the award-winning Netflix limited series The Queen’s Gambit (starring Anya Taylor-Joy of The Miniaturist). Most recently, the actor starred in The Artful Dodger (2023), a sequel series to Dickens’ Oliver Twist as a former London pickpocket turned surgeon.
Did You Know? One thing Brodie-Sangster was excited about when returning to the world of Wolf Hall was the glow-up for his character, Rafe Sadler. “We’re picking up the same day the last series ended. It’s a direct continuity,” Brodie-Sangster explained. “But thankfully my character has gone up in the world so there’s a significant change – I have a nice new costume!”
- 8.
Harry Melling as Thomas Wriothesley
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Melling’s first role — one he continued to play in 4 more films — is one he may be best known for: Dudley Dursley, Harry Potter’s spoiled cousin, in the Harry Potter films. But his resume certainly doesn’t end there! Melling has appeared in series such as Merlin, The Musketeers, and even The Queen’s Gambit along with Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light co-stars Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Lilit Lesser, and Harriet Walter.
Did You Know? While Melling may have made the game look easy when playing chess master Harry Beltik in The Queen’s Gambit, the actor admitted he was totally new to the game. “I was awful. I didn’t know how to play,” he confessed to People in 2020. “I knew a chessboard, I knew what the pieces looked like, but I had no idea how they moved, where they went, what the rules were. So I was starting from scratch.”
- 9.
Timothy Spall as the Duke of Norfolk
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Spall is perhaps best known for his work in award-winning films such as the Harry Potter films as Peter Pettigrew, The King’s Speech and Mr. Turner, as well as in TV series including The Sixth Commandment and Oliver Twist.
Originally, in the first season of Wolf Hall, the role of the Duke of the Norfolk was played by the late Bernard Hill. Spall admitted, “It was a daunting task to take over this role from someone as brilliant as the late great Bernard Hill…I hope I have done him proud.”
Did You Know? Much like co-star Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Spall is quite excited for the audience to see the Duke of Norfolk’s on-screen looks. “I’ve got a very cheeky pair of leather tights on here. I’ve got these thigh-length boots, I’ve got a jerkin, a codpiece. All the men have a codpiece which was an acceptable fashion and evidently a mark of your status and virility. Me thinks the Duke of Norfolk protesteth – or displayeth – too much!”
- 10.
Alex Jennings as Stephen Gardiner
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: MASTERPIECE fans, does Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light‘s Stephen Gardiner look familiar? Before his role in the Tudor world, Jennings could be found in MASTERPIECE series such as Victoria as King Leopold, Unforgotten Season 3 as Dr. Tim Finch, and in Mr. Bates vs The Post Office. Outside of MASTERPIECE, Jennings has appeared in a number of hit roles over the years, including in The Crown as David, the Duke of Windsor; The Queen as Prince Charles; and The Lady in the Van.
Did You Know? Jennings may have played many a historical roles throughout his career, but he’s also made history himself! According to Playbill, “Jennings is the only performer to have won an Olivier Award in the Drama, Musical and Comedy categories,” winning Best Actor for Peer Gynt (1996), Best Actor in a Musical for My Fair Lady (2003, when he took over as Professor Henry Higgins from Jonathan Pryce) and Best Comedy Performance for Too Clever By Half (1988).
- 11.
Charlie Rowe as Gregory Cromwell
Where You May Have Seen Him Before: Prior to joining the cast of Wolf Hall: The Mirror and the Light as Gregory Cromwell — a role originally played by Tom Holland in Wolf Hall — Rowe was best known for his work in the film Rocketman, as well as in series such as Vanity Fair and, most recently, Slow Horses.
Did You Know? In a December 2024 interview with LEWIS Magazine, Rowe admitted, “I also play music — I released a folk-rock-ish EP titled Grapefruit earlier in 2024…. I’m planning to record and perform more soon. In addition to that, I’m writing and creating short films. My debut, The Natural, is just finishing its festival run for the year…”
