John Boyega, James McAvoy, Ben Kingsley, and More Lend Voices To WATERSHIP DOWN

I've somehow never even heard of Watership Down, but I understand it had a profound impact on a lot of people when they were growing up. Now the story will be able to find a larger audience and reach a whole new generation, as the BBC and Netflix are teaming for an animated miniseries adaptation of Richard Adams' novel. Variety reports that the show will be available sometime in 2017. The outlet has a good breakdown of the story and an announcement of its impressive cast:

Set in the idyllic rural landscape of southern England, the adventure tale follows a band of rabbits on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, toward a promised land and a more perfect society.

The series, written by Tom Bidwell (BAFTA-nominated “My Mad Fat Diary”) and directed by Noam Murro (“300: Rise of the Empire”), will star [James] McAvoy (“Filth,” “X-Men”) as Hazel, [Nicholas] Hoult (“Mad Max: Fury Road,” “X-Men”) as Fiver, [Ben] Kingsley (“Shutter Island,” “Iron Man 3”) as General Woundwort, [John] Boyega (“Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”) as Bigwig, Gemma Arterton (“Made in Dagenham”) as Clover, Miles Jupp (“Rev,” “The Thick of It”) as Blackberry, Freddie Fox (“Pride”) as Captain Holly, Olivia Colman (“The Night Manager,” “The Lobster”) as Strawberry, and Anne-Marie Duff (“Suffragette”) as Hyzenthlay.

This story really seems to have shaken people to the core when they were kids, and since I've never heard of it before and don't have any basis for comparison, I think I'm just going to continue in my ignorance of this property and watch this new series with fresh eyes when it comes out next year to get the full experience for myself. I'm looking forward to seeing exactly what caused so many people to have such a strong reaction to it.