Guy Pearce as Ebenezer Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol."

LOS ANGELES — FX and the BBC are collaborating on a new miniseries based on Charles Dickens' novella "A Christmas Carol" (1843). The series is but the first of many new adaptations of Dickens' literary works being produced by the BBC, FX, Tom Hardy and Scott Free.

"We are incredibly proud to join the BBC in this latest creative venture, which builds on our expansive programming partnership to bring the best in television to audiences in the U.S. and U.K.,” FX President of Original Programming Eric Schrier said. “Charles Dickens’ classics, including 'A Christmas Carol,' are timeless tales that have been reimagined generation after generation. We couldn’t imagine a better team to undertake this enormous task than Steven Knight, Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott and their formidable production companies.”

Guy Pearce takes on the iconic role of miserly old Ebenezer Scrooge with Andy Serkis — the actor recently signed on to direct "Venom 2" — as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and the late Rutger Hauer was cast as the Ghost of Christmas Future. Unfortunately, according to c0-star Pearce, Hauer was too ill to begin filming. Thus, Hauer's part will be recast.

"Unfortunately, he got sick before we started recording," said Pearce in an interview. "So, unfortunately, he had to cancel. And we could never work with Rutger."

There is no official word on which actor is cast as the Ghost of Christmas Present, but it's likely that Tom Hardy will fill this role since his part in the project — aside from producer — hasn't been revealed publicly. Stephen Graham plays Jacob Marley, Joe Alwyn is Bob Cratchit and and Lenny Rush lands the all important role of Tiny Tim.

"This production of 'A Christmas Carol' will respectfully present what we believe to be a timely interpretation of a timeless story," said writer Steven Knight of the upcoming tale of Scrooge.

Since its inception 176 years ago, "A Christmas Carol" has seen an array of adaptations via the stage, cinema, radio, television and almost every other form of media you can imagine. The oldest surviving silent film is "Scrooge; or Marley's Ghost" (1901) which is directed by Walter R. Booth.

The first talkie — motion pictures featuring sound — was "Scrooge" (1928) directed by Hugh Croise, but it was 10 years later when one of the most memorable versions was tackled by Hollywood. "A Christmas Carol" (1938), starring Reginald Owen, remains a mainstay to this day for the countless number of cinematic homages to Dickens' seminal literary work.

Actor Alastair Sim's performance as Scrooge in "A Christmas Carol" (1951) is arguably the very best of any actor before or since. Sim's ability to suspend disbelief while working his thespian magic as both the hated miser and generous benefactor — acting skills not to be taken for granted by the viewer — is a thing of artistic genius.

Albert Finney gets to show off his pipes in the musical version titled "Scrooge" in 1970, while almost every major children's program tackled Dickens' "Christmas Carol" including Looney Tunes (1979), Mickey Mouse (1983), The Muppets (1992), the Flintstones (1994), Sesame Street (2006) Barbie (2008) and The Smurfs (2011).

In fact, many Hollywood icons and A-list talents have taken up the mantle of Ebenezer Scrooge through the years in almost every form of media conceivable:

Lionel Barrymore (1934-1953, radio)

Orson Welles (1939, radio)

Basil Rathbone (1940s radio and 1956 TV)

John Carradine (1947, TV)

Alec Guinness (1950s, radio)

Laurence Olivier (1953, radio)

Fredric March (1954, TV)

E.G. Marshall (1975, radio)

Rich Little (1978, HBO)

Walter Matthau (1978, TV)

Jonathan Winters (1980s, radio)

George C. Scott (1984, film)

F. Murray Abraham (1985 and 2002, theatre)

Bill Murray as Frank Cross aka Scrooge (1988, film)

Rowan Atkinson as Ebenezer Blackadder aka Scrooge (1988, film)

Patrick Stewart (1988 theatre and 1999 TV)

Michael Caine (film, 1992)

Tony Randall (1996, theatre)

Roddy McDowell (1997, theatre)

Tony Roberts (1999, theater)

Frank Langella (2000, theatre)

Tim Curry (1997 film and 2001 theatre)

Kelsey Grammer (1994 and 2004, TV)

Jim Carrey (2009, film)

Matthew McConaughey as Connor Mead aka Scrooge (2009, film)

Kathleen Turner (2015, radio)

Rhys Ifans (2017, theatre)

Guy Pearce has some very large boots to fill, but the actor should present another interesting and entertaining interpretation of Mr. Scrooge. Look for the new version of "A Christmas Carol" this December.

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