Game of Thrones star Emilia Clarke lands exciting new role in Discworld adaptation

Emilia Clarke may be best known as dragon-riding conquerer, Queen Daenerys Targaryen, in HBO’s Game of Thrones, but it seems the talented actor has just landed another hugely exciting role. And she will be in good company, as Hugh Bonneville is just one of the other amazing stars joining her in a new animated Discworld movie, The Amazing Maurice. The Sky original film is set to be adapted (opens in new tab) from Sir Terry Pratchett’s book (opens in new tab), The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents. 

It's understood that Emilia and Hugh will be playing Malicia and the Mayor and will be joined by many other famous faces including Hugh Laurie, Himesh Patel, David Thewlis and Gemma Arterton. 

But what exactly is The Amazing Maurice about and what will Emilia’s role be?

What is The Amazing Maurice about?

As the 28th instalment of Sir Terry Pratchett’s bestselling Discworld series, The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, has sold an astonishing nearly 90 million copies worldwide. It won the Carnegie Medal and is inspired by the German legend, The Pied Piper of Hamelin. 

The Amazing Maurice follows Maurice, a sentient cat with great business acumen and a brilliant idea. Maurice recruits a naive young boy and a clan of sentient rats who travel town to town, cleverly infesting cities. 

After being overrun, it's only natural that the townspeople will be prepared to pay for the rats to be removed using the boy's supposed “magical musical skills”.

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The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett 

Every town on Discworld is familiar with the stories about rats and pipers. Streetwise tomcat Maurice leads a band of educated rat friends - and a child - as he seeks to get rich. After all, who isn't prepared to pay for someone to get rid of a rat infestation? Until that is, Maurice and his friends come across someone playing a very different tune indeed. Now they must all come to understand a new concept entirely: evil. 

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As reported by Digitalspy.com, Sky spoke of the plot of their upcoming adaptation, stating: "When Maurice and the rodents reach the stricken town of Bad Blintz, they meet a bookworm, Malicia. Their little con soon goes down the drain as something very bad is waiting for them in the cellars."

So it seems that Emilia as Malicia is set to have quite a major and interesting role in this new Discworld movie adaptation. 

What has Sky said about The Amazing Maurice movie?

According to Variety.com Sarah Wright, director of Sky cinema and acquisitions at Sky U.K. and Ireland, said: “‘The Amazing Maurice’ is a fantastic story from a legendary author, and I couldn’t think of a better tale to bring to life (opens in new tab)as an animated film for all the family.” 

Acclaimed writer Sir Terry Pratchett wrote 41 novels as part of his Discworld series and went on to receive a knighthood (opens in new tab) from the Queen for services to literature in 2009. He passed away in 2015 and the brilliant final Discworld novel, The Shepherd’s Crown was published posthumously.  

The Amazing Maurice will come to Sky Cinema in 2022.