Keira Knightley to make Broadway debut in French romance

For its 50th anniversary, Roundabout Theatre Company has tapped a major star to lead the company’s first Broadway production of the 2015-2016 season.

Keira Knightley will make her Broadway debut in a newly commissioned adaptation of Therese Raquin, written by Helen Edmundson and directed by Evan Cabnet (The Performers). The play will begin previews on Oct. 1, 2015, in anticipation of an Oct. 29 opening.

Based on the novel by Emile Zola, Therese Raquin tells the love and lust-filled story of an unhappily married woman whose complacent, loveless union to her sickly cousin is flipped by the arrival of a passionate lover. The entire cast—including the roles of Therese’s husband, lover, and villainous aunt—will be announced shortly.

Knightley made her West End debut in The Misanthrope in late 2009 alongside Homeland’s Damian Lewis and returned in 2011 with The Children’s Hour opposite Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss. Knightley’s latest film endeavor, Laggies, opens Friday and the Oscar-buzzy The Imitation Game arrives in November.

In addition to Raquin, Roundabout’s 50th-anniversary season will also include Pulitzer Prize finalist Stephen Karam’s The Humans, debuting Off Broadway next fall.