The Other Bennet Sister (2026) turns the spotlight from the four more interesting Bennet sisters in Jane Austen‘s perennially relevant Pride and Prejudice and singles out Mary Bennet, the hitherto overlooked and “boring” middle sister.
Based on the novel of the same name by Janice Hadlow, the formula is one that was exploited to sensational affect in books like The Other Boleyn Girl, and it’s probably not a coincidence that there’s a similarity in the titles. But where Philippa Fucking Gregory had historical intrigue to exploit, the character of Mary Bennet is less defined, which makes exploring what, exactly, is up with this awkward girl lost amongst her prettier and wittier sisters ripe for viewing Austen’s world through new eyes.
Other adaptations of Pride and Prejudice have attempted to give Mary the tiniest hint of something deeper lurking under the bland facade — blink and you’ll miss Lucie Bryers’ subtle longing glances and clumsy attempts to catch Mr. Collins’ attention as he fawns over Lizzie and Jane at dinner in the 1995 miniseries, but it’s a flash and then the story has moved on to more interesting pursuits.
This much is evident: Mary is a girl who is well aware that she lacks what her siblings have in spades, and it’s probably not really her fault that she’s been overlooked in favor of her beautiful older sisters and her wilder younger sisters. Everyone has a role in Regency society, and Mary’s is along the same lines as Anne Elliot’s in Austen’s novel Persuasion, though much less nuanced. She’s the sister who is destined to stay home, care for her parents in their dotage, and die an old maid, while her other sisters move upward in society through advantageous (if not disastrously impetuous) marriages (though she is given something of a happy ending in an epilogue written in A Memoir of Jane Austen, written by her nephew James Edward Austen-Leigh — Mary allegedly was destined to marry a law clerk and moved to Meryton, so she dodged the spinster bullet).
The BBC miniseries, which drops in the US in May 2026 via BritBox stars Ella Bruccoleri as Mary. She’s best known as Sister Frances in Call the Midwife, though she’s been cropping up more and more in other frock flicks such as Bridgerton and Bookish.
Richard E. Grant and Ruth Jones as Mr. and Mrs. Bennet. I am sad about the lack of ridiculously frilly headgear on Mrs. Bennet, but I’m willing to overlook it for now.
Indira Varma plays Mrs. Gardiner and Richard Coyle is Mr. Gardiner.
Tanya Reynolds plays Caroline Bingley.
So far these are the only photos of the production that I’ve been able to uncover, but it’s definitely gotten my interest piqued!
Are you excited about The Other Bennet Sister (2026)? Tell us in the comments!
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