‘The Undeclared War’ Trailer Shows Online Battle in Peter Kosminsky’s Cyber Thriller (VIDEO)

The next battle line is online — at least that’s the case in the upcoming drama from Peter Kosminsky, The Undeclared War, premiering on Peacock on Thursday, August 18 (all six episodes).

The streaming service released the trailer and key art, both of which you can check out below, offering a look at the cyber thriller. The series is set in 2024, following a team of analysts buried in the heart of British spy agency GCHQ, secretly working to ward off a series of cyber-attacks on the UK in the run up to a general election.

Peacock

But as the trailer shows, there’s a partial shutdown as the result of a cyber-attack, and Saara Parvan (Hannah Khalique-Brown), a work experience student, thinks she’s found something. They trace the attacks back to Russia, most likely FSB, which leads to the question of whether or not they should retaliate. Doing so could lead to an “ever-escalating spiral,” but it is their duty to respond. A state of emergency is declared, but as things escalate, there’s the real concern that this could all end with “a catastrophic loss of life.”

The series also stars Mark Rylance, Simon Pegg, Adrian Lester, Alex Jennings, and Maisie Richardson-Sellers.

In The Undeclared War, researched meticulously by Kosminsky, when a routine stress test of internet infrastructure goes awry, 21-year-old GCHQ intern Saara Parvan suddenly finds herself operating on the invisible frontier of high-stakes cyber warfare. The series is a thrilling cat and mouse game in which Saara and the team at GCHQ must try to stay one step ahead and anticipate their opponents’ every hidden move. The clock is ticking as a battle with high stakes and unpredictable enemies takes place entirely online, with very real consequences.  But how do you win a war most of the public don’t know you’re fighting?

“The Undeclared War has been many years in the making. It imagines how the next few years might play out in the domain of cyber warfare — a battle unseen by the public but with potentially devastating consequences,” Kosminsky, who serves as executive producer, director and writer, said in a statement. In my work, I’ve tried to shine a light on aspects of public policy which affect us all but where the details of what is taking place, often behind the scenes, are not well understood. I hope this drama will give audiences an insight into a world certain to impact our lives significantly in the years ahead.”

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'The Undeclared War': Peacock Reveals Premiere Date & First Look

Joining Kosminsky as executive producers are Colin Callender and Noëlette Buckley for Playground. Robert Jones is producer. Declan Lawn, Adam Patterson, and Amelia Spencer also serve as writers. The series is co-produced by Playground, Stonehenge Films, and Universal International Studios, a division of Universal Studio Group in association with Channel 4.

The Undeclared War, Series Premiere, Thursday, August 18, Peacock