--- description: Hilary Mantel's novels become a miniseries (plus a stage production) that retells a royal story from a commoner's vantage. title: Review: Wolf Hall Gives Us an Antihero for All Seasons image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e4755f77cd8c14/69878661e20a879795a85e0f/wh-gk-8-7-14-04229_1_2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Review: _Wolf Hall_ Gives Us an Antihero for All Seasons by [James Poniewozik](/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 2, 2015 12:53 PM CUT  Wolf Hall Sundays, April 5 - May 10, 2015 on MASTERPIECE on PBS Part One Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 10pm ET Having failed to secure the annulment of the King’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wolsey is stripped of his powers. His hopes of returning to the King’s favor lie in the ever-loyal Thomas Cromwell. Shown: Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell (C) Giles Keyte/Playground & Company Pictures for MASTERPIECE/BBC This image may be used only in the direct promotion of MASTERPIECE. No other rights are granted. All rights are reserved. Editorial use only. Wolf Hall Sundays, April 5 - May 10, 2015 on MASTERPIECE on PBS Part One Sunday, April 5, 2015 at 10pm ET Having failed to secure the annulment of the King’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon, Cardinal Wolsey is stripped of his powers. His hopes of returning to the King’s favor lie in the ever-loyal Thomas Cromwell. Shown: Mark Rylance as Thomas Cromwell (C) Giles Keyte/Playground & Company Pictures for MASTERPIECE/BBC This image may be used only in the direct promotion of MASTERPIECE. No other rights are granted. All rights are reserved. Editorial use only.Giles Keyte by [James Poniewozik](/author/james-poniewozik/) ## James Poniewozik Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 2, 2015 12:53 PM CUT It’s a Tudor Revival: within days of each other, the BBC TV adaptation of Hilary Mantel’s _Wolf Hall_ novels, set in the court of Henry VIII, premieres on PBS (April 5) and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s stage version opens on Broadway (April 9). I’ve seen both, and [my print story in this week’s TIME](http://time.com/3768601/a-real-game-of-throneswolf-hall/ "undefined") (subscription required) looks at their captivating retelling of a familiar story. The story of how the king threw over Catherine of Aragon (and the Catholic Church) to wed then behead Anne Boleyn has been told and retold, from Shakespeare to _A Man for All Seasons_ to Showtime’s _The Tudors_, with Jonathan Rhys-Meyers’ swaggering rock star Henry. (The miniseries also opts for a hot Henry over the turkey-leg chewing behemoth of popular imagination, with Damien Lewis as the king.) What distinguishes _Wolf Hall_ is that the protagonist is neither the king nor any of his series of queens but Thomas Cromwell, the lawyer, financial wizard and all-around political fixer Henry relied on to rewrite laws, break church ties and destroy enemies. As Mantel painted him, Cromwell is a classic 21st-century TV antihero 500 years before his time: both ruthless and thoughtful, conniving yet loyal, he’s a little Frank Underwood, a little Olivia Pope, a little Littlefinger. And, as I write in the piece, he comes to embody some provocative ideas about the times he lived in: --- > “” --- I’m guessing you’re more likely to see the PBS broadcast, and I recommend it heartily: Mark Rylance is spectacular as Cromwell, bringing subtlety and melancholy to a man who was more of a bulldog in real life (as [Hans Holbein the Younger painted him](http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw02128/Thomas-Cromwell-Earl-of-Essex "undefined")), but conveying the terrifying efficiency of his mind all the same. (The stage version, which I saw in previews, is a more spare adapation, with broader performances, but it also captures the tone set by Mantel, who consulted closely on it.) My headline for the print article is “Game of Thrones,” because _Thrones_ references are what we do nowadays. But in seriousness the six-part _Wolf Hall_ makes a good viewing companion to HBO’s series (which returns a week later). Both are realpolitik stories beneath the lush, sexy trappings of royal desires and ambitions. Though I don’t think it’s a spoiler to point out the historical fact of what Anne Boleyn notoriously discovered: in this game of thrones, sometimes you win _and_ you die. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3768716/review-wolf-hall-pbs/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3768716/review-wolf-hall-pbs/"},"headline":"Review: Wolf Hall Gives Us an Antihero for All Seasons","datePublished":"2015-04-02T12:53:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:39:02.588Z","description":"Hilary Mantel's novels become a miniseries (plus a stage production) that retells a royal story from a commoner's vantage.","url":"https://time.com/3768716/review-wolf-hall-pbs/","keywords":["Television","review"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e4755f77cd8c14/69878661e20a879795a85e0f/wh-gk-8-7-14-04229_1_2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"James Poniewozik","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/james-poniewozik/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf5e4755f77cd8c14/69878661e20a879795a85e0f/wh-gk-8-7-14-04229_1_2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"WH-GK-8-7-14-04229_1_2","caption":"Wolf HallSundays, April 5 - May 10, 2015 on MASTERPIECE on PBSPart OneSunday, April 5, 2015 at 10pm ETHaving failed to secure the annulment of the King’s marriage to Katherine of Aragon,Cardinal Wolsey is stripped of his powers. 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