Madame X New HBO Series Cast News: Anna Paquin Joins Cast
"True Blood" lead actress Anna Paquin is set to star in a proposed miniseries to be titled "Madame X," a television adaptation of the book by Kate Manning titled "My Notorious Life," to be aired on HBO.
The story revolves around Madame X, a Victorian woman in turn-of-the-century New York City who rose from poverty and helped her husband establish a successful midwifery business, according to Den of Geek! Paquin's character is an early advocate of women's reproductive rights.
As she rises from rags to riches and resides in Fifth Avenue, she learns that the law does not always apply to matters of medicine. However, she finds an adversary in a politician who dedicated himself to promoting Victorian morality.
The tale is based on real-life woman Axie Muldoon, a daughter of Irish immigrants who was surrounded by controversy because she helped women with both wanted and unwanted pregnancies.
The story of Madame X is officially described as a "a love story, a family saga, and the confessions of a charismatic and passionate woman who changed the lives of countless others."
The miniseries will be executive produced by Paquin, her "True Blood" co-star and real-life husband Stephen Moyer, Jack Black through his Electric Dynamite production, Cerise Larkin and Mark Larnin of Untold Pictures, and Priyanka Mattoo ("Ghost Girls"). Lynn Shelton, who made the 2014 film "Laggies" with Keira Knightley and Sam Rockwell, will occupy the director's chair.
HBO is negotiating with CASM, the production company owned by Paquin and Moyer, to feature the miniseries in the channel.
"If HBO's excellent adaptation of Olive Kitteridge is anything to go by, this could end up being another powerful literary project for the cable giant," Den of Geek! commented.
Paquin, 32, and Moyer, 45, are no strangers to HBO, having shared the limelight in the channel's smash supernatural drama "True Blood," playing the parts of Sookie Stackhouse and Bill Compton, respectively.
The miniseries will be Paquin's first television role since the finale of the seven-year "True Blood" in August.
The couple are parents to twins Charlie and Poppy.