Cynthia Nixon, Miranda Richardson, Ben Chaplin, Peter Firth, Charlotte Riley and Tom Weston-Jones have jumped on board World Without End, the Canadian coproduced TV mini-series from Take 5 Productions, Galafilm and European partners Tandem Communications and Scott Free Productions.

The $44 million follow up to The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett will start shooting eight one-hour episodes from July 11 in Hungary and Austria, with director Michael Caton-Jones working off of a script by John Pielmeier.

Post production on the mini-series will follow in Toronto and Montreal.

World Without End, based on the Ken Follett novel, takes place during England’s bloody Hundred Years’ war, after the 12th century drama of Pillars of the Earth, which debuted on the Movie Network and Movie Central before shifting to the CBC.

Shaw Media has already acquired the Canadian rights to the mini-series, which chronicles a king’s murder, binding four lives together in a complex web of love, betrayal and revenge.

World Without End has also been pre-sold to Germany’s ProSiebenSat.1, Spain’s Cuatro, Austria’s ORF, Italy’s SkyItalia and Channel4 in the U.K.

Take 5 Productions’ earlier TV credits include The Tudors and The Borgias for Showtime Networks and CTV, and Camelot for Starz Entertainment and CBC.

Galafilm’s credits include 18 to Life, and Tripping The Wire.