Tolstoy is intimidating. Honestly, that's the starting point for anyone who picks up the book or clicks "play" on a version of it. You’re looking at a thousand-plus pages of Russian names, complex family trees, and deep philosophical tangents about the nature of history. So, when the BBC dropped the War and Peace TV mini series in 2016, the stakes were high. It wasn't just another period drama; it was an attempt to take a literary mountain and turn it into something you could actually finish in a weekend.
What we got was six hours of absolute visual decadence. But nearly a decade later, the debate hasn't stopped. Did Andrew Davies "sex up" the classics too much? Was the casting of Paul Dano as Pierre Bezukhov a stroke of genius or a weird mismatch? If you’ve ever scrolled through Reddit or old Guardian reviews, you know the feelings are mixed.
The 2016 War and Peace TV mini series vs. The "Big Book"
Let’s be real: you cannot fit all of War and Peace into six episodes. It’s impossible. Tolstoy’s novel isn't just a story; it’s a massive argument about fate. The 2016 War and Peace TV mini series makes a very specific choice. It ditches most of the heavy philosophy—the stuff about "Great Men" and the mechanics of history—to focus on the soap opera at the center.
And what a soap opera it is.
The series centers on three main people: the bumbling, wealthy Pierre (Paul Dano), the cynical Prince Andrei (James Norton), and the vibrant Natasha Rostova (Lily James). By tightening the focus, director Tom Harper turned a sprawling epic into a character study. Some purists hated this. They felt the "soul" of the book was stripped away. But for a modern audience? It worked. It made these 19th-century aristocrats feel like actual human beings with messy lives.
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Why Paul Dano was the Secret Weapon
In previous versions, like the 1972 BBC serial with Anthony Hopkins or the massive 1966 Soviet film, Pierre is often played as a sort of noble intellectual. Dano plays him as a loser. Not in a bad way, but in the way Tolstoy actually wrote him: a socially awkward, illegitimate son who doesn't know where to put his hands.
Dano’s performance is the glue. When he’s wandering around the Battle of Borodino in a top hat looking confused, you finally "get" the absurdity of war that Tolstoy was talking about. It’s funny, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s very human.
Lavishness, Lithuainia, and the "Incest" Scandal
If there’s one thing everyone agrees on, it’s that this show looks expensive. Because it was. They filmed on location in Russia, Lithuania, and Latvia. That scene where Natasha and Andrei waltz for the first time? That was filmed in the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg. You can’t fake that kind of scale in a studio in London. They even had to use special light bulbs that flickered like real candles because the palace wouldn't let them use actual fire near the gold leaf.
But we have to talk about the Kuragins.
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Writer Andrew Davies is famous for finding the "hidden" bits in classic novels. In the 2016 War and Peace TV mini series, he took a tiny, hinted-at line in the book about the siblings Hélène and Anatole Kuragin and turned it into a full-blown incest subplot. Tuppence Middleton and Callum Turner played them as these beautiful, reptilian predators. It was scandalous. It was "un-BBC." It also made the stakes of the social war in St. Petersburg feel incredibly dangerous.
The Sound of Silence (and Orthodox Choirs)
Most period dramas use sweeping orchestral scores that sound like they're from a Disney movie. Composer Martin Phipps went a different way. He used deep, haunting Russian Orthodox choral music. It gives the whole series a sense of doom. Even during the "Peace" sections, there's this vibration in the background that reminds you Napoleon is coming.
How it holds up against other versions
- The 1966 Soviet Version: This is the "definitive" one if you want scale. The Soviet government basically gave director Sergei Bondarchuk the entire Red Army to use as extras. It’s seven hours long and feels like a religious experience.
- The 1972 BBC Version: This is the one for the theater nerds. It’s 15 hours long. It covers almost every chapter, but it looks like it was filmed in a basement.
- The 2016 Version: This is the "gateway drug." It’s the most accessible. It’s the one you show to a friend who says they "don't do" classics.
Is the War and Peace TV mini series worth a rewatch?
Basically, yes. Especially if you're into the current trend of "prestige" period dramas like The Crown or The Empress. This show paved the way for that style. It proved that you could take a "boring" classic and make it look as sleek as a modern thriller.
The battle scenes, specifically Borodino, are visceral. They aren't just wide shots of CGI soldiers. They are muddy, bloody, and terrifying. Seeing the war through the eyes of the characters—not the generals—is what makes it stick.
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If you haven't seen it in a while, or you're just discovering it, pay attention to the supporting cast. You've got Jessie Buckley as Marya, who basically steals every scene she's in. You've got Jim Broadbent being grumpy as the old Prince Bolkonsky. Even Gillian Anderson shows up as Anna Pavlovna, looking like she’s having the time of her life in those massive 1805-era wigs.
What to do next if you're a fan
If you've finished the War and Peace TV mini series and want more, don't just go back to Netflix.
- Watch the 1966 Bondarchuk film: It's available on the Criterion Channel. The scale of the ballroom scene will make the 2016 version look like a middle school dance.
- Listen to the soundtrack: Search for "Martin Phipps War and Peace." The track "The Rostova" is a masterpiece of modern TV scoring.
- Visit the locations: If you’re ever in Vilnius, Lithuania, you can take walking tours of the old town where much of the "Moscow" and "St. Petersburg" street scenes were filmed.
- Read the book (the Pevear and Volokhonsky translation): If the show hooked you, this translation is the closest you'll get to the actual rhythm of Tolstoy’s Russian.
The 2016 series wasn't perfect, and it certainly wasn't the "full" story. But it was a vibrant, messy, beautiful attempt at a book that usually just sits on a shelf gathering dust. That’s a win in my book.