Jenna Coleman Joins Cast of Upcoming Crime Drama 'The Serpent'

The upcoming BBC/Netflix true crime series The Serpent already has some rather serious buzz around it.

The drama, which will follow the hunt for the real-life French serial killer Charles Sobhraj whose famous nickname gives the series title, is already being imagined as a sort of Bodyguard for 2020 in the hopes that it will capture the public imagination on both sides of the Atlantic in a similar fashion.

French actor Tahar Rahim, best known in America for his turn in Hulu's The Looming Tower, will play the titular con man and murderer, who also happened to be one of the most elusive criminals of the 20th century. And now several other high-profile actors have been tapped to join the cast.

Victoria star Jenna Coleman will take off her crown and tiara for a bit in order to take on a very different sort of role. She’ll play Marie-Andrée Leclerc, the partner and frequent accomplice of Sobhraj. (Kind of a far stretch from ruler of the British Empire, is all I’m saying.)

But since her co-star Tom Hughes is taking the opportunity during the Victoria hiatus to work on other projects, it seems only right that Coleman get the chance to do so as well.