The Americans star Matthew Rhys is taking on the iconic role of Mr. Darcy in BBC’s new series Death Comes to Pemberley.

As revealed by Deadline, BBC is adapting P.D. James’ continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Death Comes to Pemberley looks at the happenings of the Darcys and their relatives through a murder mystery storyline six years after the events of Jane Austen’s famous novel.

Matthew Rhys will play Darcy while Anna Maxwell Martin will play Elizabeth. Maxwell Martin has previously appeared in the BBC Series North & South and Bleak House, as well as the Jane Austen fictional biopic Becoming Jane. Maxwell Martin currently stars in the ITV series The Bletchley Circle about female code breakers in 1952. Matthew Goode has been announced to play the nefarious George Wickham in the film. Goode currently stars in The Vatican and has been seen in A Single Man, Watchmen, and Brideshead Revisited.

In talking about his role, Rhys acknowledged the pressure in playing the iconic figure, saying, “Exciting as it is, one of the challenges of a part such as Darcy are the comparisons that will be drawn to those who’ve institutionalized him in the past. The beauty of Pemberly is that it is an entirely new and different Darcy 6 years on.”

This is a busy time for Rhys, who is coming off of a highly acclaimed first season of FX’s The Americans and a nomination for Best Actor at the American Critics’ Choice Television Awards.

The three part BBC series is expected to air during the 2013 holidays and will be directed by Daniel Percival, who directed Crossing Lines.