If you are finding yourself fiendishly searching for your next TV show addiction, look no further than the new Steven Knight miniseries Taboo. FX, coming off the success of the first season of the brilliant American Crime Story, is likely to keep the winning streak going with this eight episode series. Also, it’s nice to see they’re adopting the trend of short seasons, something much easier to digest and very popular in the UK.

The series, set in 1814, follows adventurer James Keziah Delaney as he returns from Africa to inherit his father’s shipping empire. What ensues (based on the trailer) is a lot of violence, chaos and betrayal, ultimately leading to Tom Hardy being completely covered in blood at some point (that’s just our guess). He’ll probably also lose everything and gain it all back again. Yes, we’ve seen this plot before, but we must say it’s never looked this good.

Hardy, following a very good performance in last year’s (probably overrated) Oscar winner The Revenant, is making a return to television, having starred in a miniseries called The Take (highly recommended) and having also appeared in the British show Peaky Blinders. From the looks of it, Tom Hardy seems to be in full Hardy mode, and there’s no way we’ll complain about that. Say what you want about Hardy, at least he brings something different to all his performances, which is not something every actor does.
 
The series’ showrunner is none other than Steven Knight, a man Hardy is familiar with as he directed Locke, and is also the creator of Peaky Blinders. Knight is no stranger to success as he wrote two great crime thrillers, Dirty Pretty Things and Eastern Promises ( France apologizes profusely for Vincent Cassel’s abhorrent Russian accent), and it appears Taboo will continue to explore similar themes. It also looks like it’s going to serve Hardy another great role on a silver platter, top hat and all. We’ll have to wait and see but it is safe to say that this will be one of the biggest television events of next year, a thrilling and sprawling epic, so make sure you tune in on January 10th when it premieres on FX.
 
Watch the latest Taboo teaser here.