The BBC has set cast for its Killing Eve prequel Honey.
While not yet acknowledging that Honey is a predecessor show to Killing Eve (Deadline brought you that news last year), the BBC has announced Ann Skelly (House of Guinness) in the lead role of Martha Schmitt, alongside Nate Mann (Masters of the Air & Licorice Pizza) as Kurt Fischer, Jannis Niewöhner (Munich: The Edge of War, Napoleon) as Friedrich Bauman, and Rory Kinnear (The Diplomat, The Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power) as Graham Anderson.
Schmitt is a deep cover agent for MI6. Surrounded by enemies and constantly under threat of her cover being blown, she tries her hardest to avoid detection by Friedrich, the new Stasi Head of Counterespionage against British Targets, Berlin Office. Also joining cast are Oliver Cudbill as Stefan Weiss, Sonita Henry as Anne Anderson, Victoria Mayer as Ingrid Schimmel, Valentino Dalle Mura as Rolf Muller, July Namir as Kamilla Akhmedova, Julian Niedermeier as Otto Kowalski, Sofia Oxenham as Greta Abstreiter and Daniel Zielinski as Tomas Klein.
The show, which was the first to emerge from the BBC and German network ZDF‘s co-pro partnership, comes from Killing Eve maker Sid Gentle and is penned by Emma Moran. As we revealed last year, Martha Scmitt is in fact a younger Carolyn Martens, who was played with BAFTA-winning aplomb by Fiona Shaw in Killing Eve. In Killing Eve, young Carolyn is played in one ep by Black Mirror actor Imogen Daines, but the BBC has opted for up-and-comer Skelly in Honey, which looks set to be one of its biggest 2026 launches. The BBC has so far declined comment on Honey being the long-gestating Killing Eve prequel.
Honey was commissioned by Lindsay Salt, Director of BBC Drama, for BBC iPlayer and BBC One and Frank Seyberth, Head of Coproduction, International Fiction, for ZDF. It is made by Sid Gentle Films, part of BBC Studios, for the BBC and ZDF, in association with Fifth season, which will distribute the series globally. Moran is the lead writer and executive producer. Emme Hoy is also a writer on the series. It is executive produced by Sally Woodward Gentle and Lee Morris for Sid Gentle Films and the producer is Christopher Hall. Toby MacDonald directs episodes 1 – 3 and Michelle Savill directs episodes 4 – 6.