Tom Hiddleston joins the cast of The Essex Serpent opposite Claire Danes

Tom Hiddleston looked well and truly in character in a newly released image from his latest role in upcoming drama series The Essex Serpent.

The actor will star opposite Claire Danes in the Apple series which is based on the novel of the same name by Sarah Perry. 

The series follows newly widowed Cora (Claire) who relocates from Victorian London to a small village in Essex after leaving an abusive marriage.

She chooses to move to the town of Aldwinter after becoming intrigued by a local superstition that a creature known as The Essex Serpent lives in the area.

Tom plays Will Ransome, the trusted leader of the local community and can be seen in an image from the series sporting a brown coat and black jumper.

Variety reported in February that Claire Danes would take on the lead role in the show after Keira Knightley dropped out of the project last October due to the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Clio Bernard is set to direct the series while writer Anna Symon is adapting the novel for the screen. 

Tom will next be seen as his Marvel character Loki in an upcoming spin-off series which sees him travel through time and alter human history after stealing the Tesseract during the events of Avengers: Endgame. 

Tom’s Loki has been one of the longest-running recurring characters in Marvel’s connected film universe, starting with Thor in 2011.

The new Loki series, and its six episodes, is expected to be released on Disney+ in May 2021.

In July it was also reported that Tom and his co-star Zawe Ashton have ‘moved in together’ after months of romance rumours.

The pair were previously said to be living together in Atlanta, Georgia after they grew close while starring together in the West End production of Betrayal in London last year. 

Sources close to the duo claim The Night Manager star, 39, and the actress, 35, are ‘very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life’ – and may even spend the rest of the year in the US.

An insider told The Sun: ‘Tom and Zawe have stayed quiet about their relationship but she has spent the last few weeks with him in the US.

‘They are very well suited and enjoy the quieter side of life away from the glitz and glamour of the showbiz world.

‘Their lives are typically very busy, so spending time together while not working has been ­something they have both embraced. Tom has made a home in Atlanta during lockdown and he is ­expecting to spend the rest of the year there.

MailOnline contacted representatives for Tom and Zawe for comment at the time.