Kenneth Branagh makes an eerily spot-on Boris Johnson in 1st image from new COVID-19 drama

Kenneth Branagh is headed to Downing Street in a new drama set to take on some very recent events.

The award-winning actor is starring as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the new Sky drama This Sceptred Isle, and he looked unrecognizable in the first image revealed Thursday as filming began.

From director Michael Winterbottom, this five-part drama series is set to "chart the events surrounding Johnson and his government in the face of the first wave of" the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Variety reports.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

"Our series weaves together countless true stories — from Boris Johnson in Number 10 to front line workers around the country — chronicling the efforts of scientists, doctors, care home workers and policy makers to protect us from the virus," Winterbottom said.

This Sceptred Isle will debut in fall 2022, by which point one can only hope it will no longer be about an ongoing pandemic. See the first image — and try to convince yourself it's actually Branagh you're looking at here — below. Brendan Morrow