Kate Winslet and Maxine Peake to Star in Netflix Limited Series 'The Unheard'

Kate Winslet will star in and executive produce The Unheard, a five-episode Netflix limited series written by Jack Thorne, the co-creator of Adolescence. Maxine Peake will co-star alongside Winslet, with filming set to begin in 2027. The Hollywood Reporter

The story follows two sisters who go on the run after an act of vengeance goes wrong. Mounia Akl, whose credits include the critically regarded feature Costa Brava, Lebanon, will direct all five episodes. A limited series is a self-contained story with a set episode count — no second season is built into the order, though networks and platforms sometimes extend a successful one.

The production brings together three companies with distinct track records. Warp Films, based in Sheffield, has produced films and television drama for over two decades. Brad Pitt's Plan B Entertainment has backed projects from 12 Years a Slave to Okja. Matriarch Productions is the company run by actor Stephen Graham and his wife, producer Hannah Walters — both of whom are named as executive producers on The Unheard.

The full executive producer roster, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter, runs wide. Alongside Winslet herself, the credit list includes Mark Herbert and Emily Feller for Warp Films; Walters and Graham for Matriarch Productions; Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner and Nina Wolarsky for Plan B; and Jack Thorne, who wrote the scripts.

For Winslet, the role adds another television credit to a career that has increasingly moved between film and the small screen. She won an Emmy in 2021 for the HBO limited series Mare of Easttown and followed it with the channel's political drama The Regime in 2024. For Peake, it is a high-profile pairing on an international platform — the Bolton-born actor is best known to British audiences for her stage and screen work, including Silk and The Village on BBC One.

For viewers, the combination is a straightforward draw: two actors with deep reputations, a writer whose Adolescence was one of the most talked-about British dramas of recent years, and a tight five-episode shape that promises a contained story rather than an open-ended commitment. Netflix has not yet announced a release window, but with production starting in 2027, a premiere would likely follow in late 2027 or 2028.