Pop Goes The News – Production of the National Geographic scripted series Barkskins will begin soon in and around Montreal.

The 10-episode series is based on the 2016 Annie Proulx novel of the same name centred on a pair of indentured servants, René Sel and Charles Duquet, brought to New France in 1693 to clear land for a wealthy man. (Quebec, of course, was once a colony of New France.)

Proulx, an American whose father had French Canadian roots, attended college in Canada and spent many summers in Newfoundland. Her novel The Shipping News became a 2001 film that was shot in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia.

The first episode of Barkskins will be directed by series creator David Slade, a Brit who has directed episodes made-in-Toronto series American Gods and Hannibal as well as B.C.-shot The Twilight Saga: Eclipse. 

David Thewlis (Wonder Woman, Harry Potter) will play wealthy landowner Claude Trepagny. More casting details will be announced soon.

According to National Geographic, Barkskins will air in 172 countries around the world in 43 languages.