Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) will star in and executive produce a remake of the 1968 film 'The Lion in Winter' for the Showtime network.

Stewart will portray King Henry II in the new version based on James Goldman's 1968 Academy Award-winning screenplay, according to a press release. Five time Academy Award-nominee Glenn Close has signed on to play his scheming wife, Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine.

The film is set in England during Christmas 1183, as King Henry summons his three sons to his side to decide his successor. They are joined at this reunion by his treacherous wife Eleanor, his mistress Princess Alais, and her brother, King Philip II of France. Each of the attendees will stop at nothing to further their own agendas and gain a slice of Henry's empire.

Shooting will begin in Hungary early in 2003, with the movie expected to premiere on Showtime later that year. Stewart is joined as executive producer by his wife, former Next Generation producer Wendy Neuss Stewart, Emmy-winner Robert Halmi, Sr., and Martin Poll, producer of the original film.

The winner of three Academy Awards, the 1968 version of 'The Lion in Winter' was adapted by James Goldman from on his own Broadway play. The film starred British veterans Peter O'Toole as King Henry II and Anthony Hopkins as his son Richard, with Katharine Hepburn as Queen Eleanor. Hepburn won the third of her four Academy Awards for her performance.

To read the original press release, head over to PRNewswire. Thanks to Sue and the Patrick Stewart Network for this!

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