Apple TV+ Taps Some Eligible Bachelors for Its New 'The Buccaneers'-Inspired Drama

Author Edith Wharton's final novel, The Buccaneers, revolves around a group of wealthy American heiresses on the hunt for titled, most likely genteelly poor British aristocrats to give their families the legitimate social status their cash can't buy them. (If this sounds familiar, it's because it's pretty much the basis for Robert and Cora Crawley's marriage on Downton Abbey, though I doubt the Countess of Grantham would ever have referred to herself that way.)

In Wharton's story, this husband hunting results in everything from genuine love to convenient partnerships, from extramarital affairs to divorce. How Apple TV+'s new period drama, described as "inspired" by Wharton's text, will handle these relationships is unclear. (Though I suppose it depends how literally you interpret "inspired by" in this context.) But we're slowly inching closer to finding out.

With production officially underway in Scotland, the casting news for the series is coming fast and furious (even though this show technically doesn't have a title yet). Former Mad Men star Christina Hendricks is set to play Mrs. St. George, the mother of buccaneers Nan and Jinny, and a former belle of the ball desperate to keep her girls from being branded as new money, social-climbing outsiders. Here are some of the many eligible men Nan, Jinny, and the rest of their quartet of friends will be set to chase.