New Pictures & Kit Harington’s Thriker Films partner on ‘Empire Of Dirt’

Kit Harington (Source: New Pictures/Matthew Brooks)

All3Media-backed New Pictures and Kit Harington and Daniel West’s Thriker Films have partnered to produce eight-part thriller Empire Of Dirt (working title).

The series tells the story of city hotshot Jake Galloway who reluctantly returns to his family farm in the Lake District for a distant cousin’s wedding – only to be pulled headlong into a deadly criminal enterprise.

Jake hasn’t been home in 15 years, but following a tragic accident this prodigal son suddenly finds himself the unwilling head of his family. He must heal the toxic legacy of his tyrannical father, repair relationships with his estranged siblings and mother, and juggle his own demons – all whilst fighting for the sprawling farm’s survival.

But in doing so Jake discovers something unthinkable, his father’s darkest secret – a multimillion-pound drugs racket run from a hidden corner of the family land.

New Pictures is behind titles including The Long Shadow and the upcoming Protection for ITV, Champion for BBC1 and Netflix and No Escape for Paramount+.

Willow Grylls, co-founder and CEO of New Pictures, said: “Empire Of Dirt will be thrilling, dangerous and fun, but always with a searing emotional core. It plays on our darkest flaws – jealousy, ambition, and the broken children who are dragged along in the wake of a vindictive and tyrannical parent.”

Thriker Films, meanwhile, was set up Game Of Thrones star Harington and writer West, and has also produced Gunpowder for the BBC. The pair described Empire Of Dirt as “a very British Western, set against the Lake District’s stunning visual backdrop. The Galloways are a family fighting to survive, wrestling with their identity, trauma and the burden of inheritance, as ancient traditions collide with the mores of modern Britain.”