‘House of the Dragon’ Star Maddie Evans Set to Lead British Horror ‘Pendle 1612’

British horror has been enjoying something of a renaissance lately, with independent filmmakers increasingly mining the country’s own folklore and dark history rather than leaning on imported genre conventions. That trend has produced some of the more distinctive genre films of recent years, often built around real historical tragedies reimagined through a contemporary lens.

Maddie Evans has spent her young career building a résumé that spans exactly that kind of storytelling range, from voicing a hedgehog in DreamWorks’s ‘Rhyme Time Town’ to playing a young Britney Spears in a BBC documentary drama. Her most high-profile role came as Dyana in HBO’s ‘House of the Dragon,’ a small but pointed part in the show’s first season that unexpectedly resurfaced in its second.

Evans is now set to headline a very different kind of project entirely. According to a Deadline exclusive, she has been cast to lead the upcoming British horror feature ‘Pendle 1612,’ joining newcomer Ella Moss and ‘Shetland’ actress Gemma Laurie in a film inspired by one of England’s most notorious historical witch trials.

Written and directed by Lancashire-born twin filmmakers Liam Bashford and Kyle Bashford, the film is described as a docu-horror centered on three young women whose documentary investigation into the disappearance of Evans’s character’s older sister leads them into the landscape surrounding Pendle Hill. Evans plays Amy, with Moss as Hannah and Laurie as Meg, the trio driving the film’s central mystery as it pulls them deeper into territory synonymous with Britain’s 1612 witch trials.

The actual Pendle Witch Trials remain among the most thoroughly documented witch trials in English history. Twelve people from the area surrounding Pendle Hill in Lancashire were charged with murder by witchcraft in 1612, with ten of them ultimately hanged after being found guilty, making the case one of the defining chapters in Britain’s long history of witch hysteria.

That real history clearly carries personal weight for the filmmakers behind the project. Liam Bashford explained that growing up in Lancashire, the story of the Pendle Witches had always been present around him, a connection that shaped his and his brother’s decision to bring the material to the screen through their own docu-horror lens rather than a straightforward historical retelling.

Production on ‘Pendle 1612’ will shoot on location in the heart of Pendle in Lancashire, with principal photography set to begin toward the end of September. The film is being produced by Eleven Eleven Pictures, with the Bashford twins also currently serving as executive producers on ‘Una Notte,’ a short film produced through Harris Dickinson’s Devisio Pictures banner.

For Evans, the role marks a significant step forward as she transitions from supporting television work into a genuine lead film role, carrying a genre project rooted deeply in her home country’s own dark folklore. Given how personally invested the Bashford brothers appear to be in bringing this particular chapter of history to the screen, ‘Pendle 1612’ looks positioned to stand out from the recent wave of British horror rather than simply following the trend.

With filming beginning soon and a cast already generating buzz, ‘Pendle 1612’ is shaping up to be one of the more anticipated British horror releases to watch heading into production this fall.

The combination of a rising young cast, a genuinely dark real-world backdrop, and filmmakers with a personal connection to the material gives ‘Pendle 1612’ a stronger foundation than many genre films manage before cameras even start rolling. If the finished film matches the ambition behind its premise, it could end up standing alongside the best of the recent British horror wave rather than simply riding its coattails.

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