There was a shock when news spread that the celebrated novelist Hilary Mantel had died. Everyone who knew her, whether professionally or personally, was horrified by the news of her passing. The Mirror and the Light is the third and final book of Mantel’s Tudor trilogy, and its BBC adaptation had been scheduled for the future before she passed away. The third and final film, however, will apparently go through in Mantel’s honour, as reported exclusively by Variety. Mantel was a British writer who was likely most well-known for her trilogy about the Tudor dynasty, which she began with 2009’s Wolf Hall. The novels focused on the cunning Thomas Cromwell during Anne Boleyn’s rise and fall, providing a fictional look at the intrigue inside King Henry VIII’s court.
The Mirror and the Light, the third and final volume of the trilogy, came out in 2020. In 2015, BBC began airing adaptations of the first two books in the series. At the time of her death, she was working on the series’ conclusion, titled The Mirror and the Light. Peter Kosminsky, a filmmaker and screenwriter who was collaborating with her on a future version of The Mirror and the Light, expressed his regret at her passing by saying, “[q]uite apart from my own sadness, I’ve also lost my principal partner.” although he went on to explain that they will “…continue this as a monument to [Mantel], but also without the advantage of her supervision and wisdom.” He elaborated, adding, “[a]s we were putting that performance together, I was always in touch with her and met her on a number of occasions asking for assistance.”
According to Kosminsky, “she was encyclopaedic on the sources, and spent five years researching the subject before putting pen to paper, so if I wanted any information about a character or an event, or even about things like how they ate or removed their hats with a bow, she was the one to go to. It’s arguable that she was the best living English language author. Mantel’s Tudor trilogy was an unqualified success. Her works, while meticulous in their research, also possessed the breadth of vision to make a familiar part of history feel fresh. The Mirror and the Light adaptation was in the works with Mantel and Kosminsky until her untimely passing. As a tribute to her, the modification will persist.