Fan Casting

Richard Mayhew has spent three years in London living a safe, predictable life defined by a dull job and a controlling fiancée, Jessica. But one rainy night, everything changes when he encounters Door, a wounded young woman who emerges from a mysterious door in a wall while being hunted by two terrifying assassins, Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemar. Richard chooses to help her rather than attend his important dinner, costing him his engagement—and, by morning, his entire identity. No one remembers him, his home and job are gone, and only the forgotten inhabitants of a hidden world beneath London can see him. Determined to find Door and reclaim his life, Richard descends into London Below, a vast, dangerous realm of forgotten people, ancient courts, magical markets, monsters, and impossible places. Reunited with Door and joined by the enigmatic Marquis de Carabas and legendary warrior Hunter, Richard follows clues left by Door’s murdered family toward the mysterious angel Islington, who promises answers about their deaths. Their journey takes them through the Floating Market, Earl’s Court, the British Museum, the Black Friars’ deadly trials, and the labyrinthine depths beneath London, where Richard must confront the Beast of London and discover the courage he never knew he possessed. But as Door uncovers the truth, she learns that Islington orchestrated her family’s murder and manipulated her into retrieving a magical key so it can open a gateway to Heaven and seize power over the angels who banished it. With Richard captured and Door seemingly trapped, she outwits Islington by using a counterfeit key, sending the angel, Croup, and Vandemar into an unknown realm. Door then restores Richard’s passage to London Above, but he soon realizes that his old life no longer feels like home. When he finally despairs of ever returning to London Below, the resurrected Marquis appears with one final door—and Richard steps willingly into the world that changed him forever.