‘Game of Thrones’ Star Natalie Dormer Launches Dog Rose Productions

By Elsa Keslassy

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – “Game of Thrones” star Natalie Dormer has launched Dog Rose Productions, which will work up projects that Fremantle has first-look rights to co-develop and distribute.

The two parties are already collaborating on “Vivling,” a look at the life of “Gone With the Wind” star Vivien Leigh. Their next project together is “Spitfire Sisters,” an eight-part series recounting the true story of a group of female aviators during World War II. It will be written by playwright and screenwriter Morgan Lloyd Malcolm.

“Spitfire Sisters” follows the women of the Air Transport Auxiliary, who were tasked with flying 90 different types of aircraft from airbase to airbase so that the planes were ready for combat. The mission was a perilous one.

“Spitfire Sisters” is told through the eyes of these women and deals with themes such as “empowerment, friendships, love, camaraderie, and deep tragedy and loss,” said in a statement.

“This is a barely known story, a thrilling story, an important story ready to be told by such a passionate voice as Morgan’s,” said Dormer, who will executive produce the series, while Dog Rose’s Danielle Glaze-Adams will act as the development executive on the project.

“It’s important to me, as a writer, to tell stories that have been ignored and to shine a light on perspectives that we have lacked for so long,” Malcolm said. “‘Spitfire Sisters’ is all about re-framing the classic wartime genre and giving the many women who were so important to the war effort a chance to speak and quite literally fly.”

Malcolm added that it’s “always exciting to see representation of marginalized stories on our screens and stages, and this project will hold so many within it. The heart of it is about joy and freedom and bravery.”

Malcolm’s credits include the play “Emilia,” which transferred to the West End in 2019 and has been optioned for film. She is developing the adaptation of “Emilia” as well as another play, “The Wasp,” for Paradise City Films.

Dormer signed a multi-year first-look deal with Fremantle last year, after starring in a new TV adaptation of the Australian classic tale “Picnic at Hanging Rock,” which the company distributed globally.