Beowulf teaser, premiere date: Esquire Network series to debut in January

Esquire Network’s Beowulf has gotten a premiere date. EW can exclusively reveal that the series, based on the epic poem of the same name, will air its first episode on Saturday, Jan. 23. The 13-episode hour-long drama marks Esquire Network’s second scripted series, following Spotless, which premiered last month.

While the new series is based on the Old English poem, this isn’t your high school English teacher’s Beowulf: “While this may seem like a familiar tale, Beowulf unearths the full story of the complicated, driven man behind the lore,” the press release teases.

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Da Vinci’s Demons’ Kieran Bew stars as Beowulf and William Hurt plays Hrothgar, the Thane of Herot. Joanne Whalley, Ed Speleers, Laura Donnelly, and David Ajala round out the cast.

“Unwittingly in search of a cause to believe in and a community to fight for, Beowulf finds himself wrongly accused of murder and hunts down the true perpetrator to avenge the death of his fellow kinsmen,” the plot summary reads, also promising a “tough but unconventional hero” in Beowulf, “the last of a dying breed.”

Check out the exclusive supertease above to get a taste of the world of Beowulf, and tune in for the premiere on Esquire Network on Saturday, Jan. 23, at 10:00 p.m. ET.