'The Dig' First Look: Ralph Fiennes Looks For Treasure In Upcoming Netflix Movie

Looks like Netflix has a new prestige drama headed our way – can you dig it? I sure hope so, because it's called The Dig, and it looks like the type of movie where everyone is dressed very well and behaves very properly. That's not a knock, either – sometimes that sort of movie can be just what the doctor ordered. In The Dig, a widow hires an archeologist to excavate some burial mounds on her estate – and they may or may not contain treasure. I know the "burial mounds" thing makes this sound like a horror movie in disguise, but it's not. Check out some The Dig first look images below.

In The Dig, "As WWII looms, a wealthy widow hires an amateur archaeologist to excavate the burial mounds on her estate. When they make a historic discovery, the echoes of Britain's past resonate in the face of its uncertain future?." The cast includes Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin, Ken Stott, Archie Barnes, and Monica Dolan, and some new images from the film gives us a look at those fine people in their appropriate period attire. Above you can see Mulligan and James looking intently at...something.

Here's James wearing some big glasses and collecting, uh, moss, I guess?

Here's James again, clutching her hands to her heart, as if she's overcome with emotion. Maybe she read this write-up of the motion picture The Dig and thought, "This guy gets it. He knows what's up with The Dig. Thank you, Chris Evangelista."

The adult there is Johnny Flynn, who plays David Bowie in the upcoming Stardust.

Hey, it's Ralph Fiennes! He plays the amateur archeologist in the flick. And he looks great smoking a pipe.

Mulligan and Fiennes, just vibing.

The Dig is based on the book by the same name, written by John Preston. Here's the book's synopsis, which gives us more insight into what's going on in the film:

In the long, hot summer of 1939, Britain is preparing for war, but on a riverside farm in Suffolk there is excitement of another kind. Mrs. Pretty, the widowed owner of the farm, has had her hunch confirmed that the mounds on her land hold buried treasure. As the dig proceeds, it becomes clear that this is no ordinary find.

This fictional recreation of the famed Sutton Hoo dig follows three months of intense activity when locals fought outsiders, professionals thwarted amateurs, and love and rivalry flourished in equal measure. As the war looms ever closer, engraved gold peeks through the soil, and each character searches for answers in the buried treasure. Their threads of love, loss, and aspiration weave a common awareness of the past as something that can never truly be left behind.

The real-life Sutton Hoo dig mentioned in that synopsis above uncovered an Anglo-Saxon ship burial, so you can imagine that plays into the plot somehow. Unless it doesn't. I'm working with what I've got here, folks. Netflix doesn't give a specific date as to when we might see The Dig. As of now, the film is listed as "coming soon."