OR

Email Address

Password

Forgot password?

Wolf Hall

METASCORE

Universal acclaim based on 38 Critic Reviews

See All

87

USER SCORE

No score yet

tbd

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

tbd	Your Score
tbd	User Score No score yet

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Wolf Hall: Three Card Trick

Now Playing: Wolf Hall: Three Card Trick

Wolf Hall

Series Details & Credits

PBS | BBC Two | Release Date: January 21, 2015

Summary: The adaptation of Hilary Mantel's novels about the rise of Thomas Cromwell (Mark Rylance) during the reign King Henry VIII (Damian Lewis).

[The second season was subtitled as The Mirror and the Light]

Genre(s): Drama

Recent Episodes

tbd
S2:E4. The Mirror and the Light Light
Air Date: December 15, 2024
tbd
S2:E3. The Mirror and the Light Mirror
Air Date: December 8, 2024
tbd
S2:E2. The Mirror and the Light Jenneke
Air Date: December 1, 2024

See all Seasons and Episodes

Metascore

87

Positive:

37

Mixed:

1

Negative:

0

Critic Reviews

100

USA Today

Robert Bianco

Apr 2, 2015

Season 1 Review: One of the best TV programs you'll find in this or any season. Read full review

100

Wall Street Journal

Dorothy Rabinowitz

Apr 3, 2015

Season 1 Review: It takes some while before the immensity of the history it covers dawns on a viewer of this extraordinary series, so deftly is that history--the reign of Henry VIII (Damian Lewis), Henry’s court, the dawn of the Protestant Reformation in England--woven into drama here. Read full review

100

Wall Street Journal

John Anderson

Mar 20, 2025

Season 2 Review: An event. .... Rylance’s Cromwell is an astonishing mix of empathy, doom and hope. .... The dialogue is fluid and of its time, so much so that you forget someone wrote it (Peter Straughan did), or that it was directed (by Peter Kosminsky). Read full review

90

Boston Globe

Matthew Gilbert

Apr 2, 2015

Season 1 Review: It is the epitome of slow drama, with action taking place off-screen while intentional silences wreak havoc in the hollow Tudor halls. The miniseries pays off along the way, particularly with Rylance’s extraordinary performance, and it also accumulates into something gripping in the last three episodes. Read full review

83

The A.V. Club

Kayleigh Dray

Mar 18, 2025

Season 2 Review: Despite the mammoth 10-year gap between seasons, they flow seamlessly into one another, which is no small feat considering the likes of the Duke of Norfolk had to be recast. The only real issue with this season, perhaps, is that it has to condense nearly 800 pages of Mantel’s fiction into just six episodes. Read full review

80

New York Daily News

David Hinckley

Apr 17, 2015

Season 1 Review: It’s beautifully filmed, with a measured pace and a priority on the performances. Read full review

60

The New York Times

Mike Hale

Mar 24, 2025

Season 2 Review: Lewis’s contained, preternaturally magnetic performance is as sure an embodiment as you could imagine of the force of a powerful monarch. It has an effect on the show that is both historically authentic and dramatically problematic: When Lewis is offscreen, we, like Cromwell and the other courtiers, are anxiously waiting to see what he will do next. The prodigious Rylance is fine, but Cromwell’s role in “The Mirror and the Light” involves a preponderance of rueful staring into space. Read full review

SEE ALL 38 REVIEWS

Write a Review

tbd

Mixed:

0

Negative:

0

No reviews yet.

More From Metacritic

15 Best New TV Series of 2015

We rank the highest-scoring new TV shows debuting in 2015.

Best TV Shows of the 2014-15 Season

We reveal the top TV programs of the 2014-15 season, including the shows...

What to Watch Right Now on Paramount+

Find a list of the best recent and upcoming film and TV titles added to...

What to Watch Right Now on Amazon's Prime Video

Get a list of the best movie and TV titles recently added (and coming...

Current TV Shows

By MetascoreBy User Score

1 92 The Pitt: Season 2

2 90 The Celebrity Traitors UK: Season 1

3 87 Hacks: Season 5

4 87 Industry: Season 4

5 87 Genndy Tartakovsky's Primal:...

6 85 The Beatles Anthology

7 85 The Traitors [UK]: Season 4

8 85 Bait: Season 1

9 84 Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!

10 83 Lord of the Flies

11 83 Riot Women: Season 1

12 83 For All Mankind: Season 5

13 81 The Muppet Show (2026)

14 80 Outlander (2014): Season 8

15 80 The Other Bennet Sister: Season 1

16 80 The Mighty Nein: Season 1

17 80 The Comeback: Season 3

18 80 The American Revolution

19 80 One Piece (2023): Season 2

20 80 Dark Winds: Season 4

SEE ALL

Seasons & Episodes

87

Series Overview
Season 2

89
- Season 2 Overview
  Air Date: March 23, 2025
- tbd
  S2:E4. The Mirror and the Light Light
  Air Date: December 15, 2024
- tbd
  S2:E3. The Mirror and the Light Mirror
  Air Date: December 8, 2024
- tbd
  S2:E2. The Mirror and the Light Jenneke
  Air Date: December 1, 2024
- tbd
  S2:E1. The Mirror and the Light Defiance
  Air Date: November 24, 2024
Season 1

86
- Season 1 Overview
  Air Date: January 21, 2015