Despite its bestseller status, Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell was an underdog choice for a TV adaptation. Lacking the action/adventure elements of post-Game of Thrones fantasy hits like The Rings of Power, The Wheel of Time, or The Witcher, it centers on an ideological dispute between two magical scholars, one of whom is purposefully characterized as the dullest man in England. Not an obvious sell, cinematically speaking.
Drawing from 19th century literary influences, the original novel narrates its tale in a wryly observational tone, stuffed with lengthy footnotes and peppered with Dickensian side-characters. Meandering its way through a decade of the Napoleonic Wars, it introduces a version of England where magic plays an influential role in society, but class divides and Regency-era foibles drive much of the story’s conflict.
