Craig’s Purity miniseries lands at Showtime

Daniel Craig and Christoph Waltz in December 2014 event.

Daniel Craig’s Purity miniseries will be televised by the Showtime cable network, THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER said.

Besides starring the 20-episode series, the current screen James Bond will also be an executive producer, according to the entertainment news website. Production is scheduled to begin in 2017 and the 20 episodes will be televised over two years, the website said.

In February, Variety reported that producer Scott Rudin was shopping around the project to various bidders, including Showtime and Netflix.

Here’s an excerpt from The Hollywood Reporter story:

The series…centers on a young woman named Purity (who is known by the name of Pip) who, in search of answers about herself and her family, winds up interning at South America at the Sunlight Project, a group which deals with all the secrets of the world. It’s described as a story about youthful idealism, fidelity and murder. Craig is eyed to play Andreas, a German provocateur who crosses paths with Pip.

Todd Field will write, direct and exec produce Purity. Scott Rudin, Eli Bush, Franzen and David Hare will also exec produce. Haren and Franzen will also serve as writers on the series, while Field will direct all 20 episodes.

Besides Purity, Craig is scheduled to do a stage production of Othello later this year and may appear in Logan Lucky, a heist movie directed by Steven Soderbergh.

There has been plenty of speculation whether Craig will return for a fifth turn as 007. For the moment, there’s no way to determine when Bond 25 may come out. Studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which controls half of the 007 franchise, doesn’t have the resources to release a movie on its own. MGM’s 007 contract with Sony Pictures expired after SPECTRE. MGM has yet to reach an accord with Sony or any other studio.