Ashley Walters Leads Six New Cast Additions for First Woman
Ashley Walters is moving into First Woman with the kind of assignment that gives a cast announcement real weight: he plays Ben, the husband searching for the truth after Claire disappears. ITV and ZDF have now rounded out the six-part lunar series with six new names, turning last week’s lead announcement into a fuller ensemble.
Ben Miles Joins Mission Control
Ben Miles, Jimmy Akingbola, Kathryn Gallagher, Christian Ochoa Lavernia, Shazad Latif and Fra Fee have joined the drama’s main cast. Miles plays mission director Peter Talbot, a former astronaut now running Mission Control, while Akingbola takes on astronaut Dr Henry Evans, who oversees the nuclear reactor that sustains life on the moon.
Gallagher appears as former NASA astronaut Lucy Miller, now working in Mission Control. Lavernia plays Gabriel Ross, commander of the moon mission, and Latif plays Inesh Vidhani, the billionaire behind the space programme. Fee is Dr Declan McAllister, whose bullish demeanor puts him at loggerheads with Claire.
Claire Reith’s Missing Act
First Woman follows Claire Reith, a biologist in a groundbreaking research project and the first woman to set foot on the moon, who disappears. Walters plays her husband, Ben, searching from Earth while the action shifts between Mission Control and the lunar surface as the race against time builds.
Philip Martin directs the series, which is being billed as cinematic in scale and ambition. That positioning fits the cast list: the show is leaning on a mix of film, television and theater names to carry a story built around two locations and one disappearance, not on a single headline role.
Northern Ireland Production
Filming is underway in Northern Ireland, giving the casting news immediate production relevance rather than leaving it as a development-stage update. The series is set to air in the UK on ITV1 and STV, with streaming on ITVX and STV Player, while ZDF has German rights.
ITV’s international sales rights and the co-production setup with Mammoth Screen, Alcon Television Group and ZDF point to a series being built for more than one market. For viewers, the practical takeaway is simple: the ensemble is now in place, the shoot is active, and the lunar thriller has moved from launch-stage publicity into production.
