As part of Masters Week, the lion’s long reign-from Rembrandt to Pride Rock-comes back into focus, carried by the unmistakable voice of Jeremy Irons.
From the first marks etched onto cave walls to the icons of modern cinema, no creature has carried more symbolic weight. Strength, sovereignty, divine protection-across cultures and centuries, the lion has stood in for power itself. That lineage moves from ancient empires to the Renaissance and into our shared imagination today.
In Young Lion Resting, Rembrandt van Rijn strips the symbol bare. Drawn from life in the late 1630s, the lion is no longer an emblem or a myth, but a living presence-alert, contemplative, and profoundly dignified.
Coming to live auction at Sotheby’s New York on 4 February at 2:00 PM EST, this once-in-a-generation master drawing carries its power forward with purpose, as proceeds will benefit Panthera, helping ensure that the kings of the wild endure beyond the page.
Jeremy Irons was at The Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea’s Christmas Carol Service for 2025, held on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at St Mary Abbots Church, benefiting London’s Air Ambulance Charity, featuring carols, readings and festive refreshments.
Jeremy read “Amazing Peace” by Maya Angelou.
Some photos by Jodi Abraham. 📷
Scroll down for the text of the poem and for an audio recording of Jeremy reading the poem at the carol service.
Photo via Jodi AbrahamPhoto via Jodi AbrahamPhoto via Jodi AbrahamPhoto via Jodi Abraham
Amazing Peace: A Christmas Poem
By Dr. Maya Angelou
Thunder rumbles in the mountain passes
And lightning rattles the eaves of our houses.
Flood waters await us in our avenues.
Snow falls upon snow, falls upon snow to avalanche
Over unprotected villages.
The sky slips low and grey and threatening.
We question ourselves.
What have we done to so affront nature?
We worry God.
Are you there? Are you there really?
Does the covenant you made with us still hold?
Into this climate of fear and apprehension, Christmas enters,
Streaming lights of joy, ringing bells of hope
And singing carols of forgiveness high up in the bright air.
The world is encouraged to come away from rancor,
Come the way of friendship.
It is the Glad Season.
Thunder ebbs to silence and lightning sleeps quietly in the corner.
Flood waters recede into memory.
Snow becomes a yielding cushion to aid us
As we make our way to higher ground.
Hope is born again in the faces of children
It rides on the shoulders of our aged as they walk into their sunsets.
Hope spreads around the earth. Brightening all things,
Even hate which crouches breeding in dark corridors.
In our joy, we think we hear a whisper.
At first it is too soft. Then only half heard.
We listen carefully as it gathers strength.
We hear a sweetness.
The word is Peace.
It is loud now. It is louder.
Louder than the explosion of bombs.
We tremble at the sound. We are thrilled by its presence.
It is what we have hungered for.
Not just the absence of war. But, true Peace.
A harmony of spirit, a comfort of courtesies.
Security for our beloveds and their beloveds.
We clap hands and welcome the Peace of Christmas.
We beckon this good season to wait a while with us.
We, Baptist and Buddhist, Methodist and Muslim, say come.
Peace.
Come and fill us and our world with your majesty.
We, the Jew and the Jainist, the Catholic and the Confucian,
Implore you, to stay a while with us.
So we may learn by your shimmering light
How to look beyond complexion and see community.
It is Christmas time, a halting of hate time.
On this platform of peace, we can create a language
To translate ourselves to ourselves and to each other.
At this Holy Instant, we celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ
Into the great religions of the world.
We jubilate the precious advent of trust.
We shout with glorious tongues at the coming of hope.
All the earth’s tribes loosen their voices
To celebrate the promise of Peace.
We, Angels and Mortal’s, Believers and Non-Believers,
Look heavenward and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at our world and speak the word aloud.
Peace. We look at each other, then into ourselves
And we say without shyness or apology or hesitation.
Jeremy Irons joins GQ as he revisits some of the most iconic characters from his career so far: from voicing Scar in Disney’s 1994 The Lion King to his role as Simon Peter Gruber in Die Hard with a Vengeance.
“Games and playing with people, that suited my personality,” Irons admits as he recalls his portrayal of the East German antagonist. “I found it very easy to slip into Simon.”
Watch the full episode of GQ’s Iconic Characters as Jeremy Irons breaks down his most iconic movie roles.
Jeremy Irons, a triple crown of acting achiever thanks to Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award wins, is the latest bold-faced name to join the cast of Highlander, Amazon MGM’s remake of the 1980s cult classic.
The luminous call has Henry Cavill leading a cast that already includes Russell Crowe, Marisa Abela, Dave Bautista, Karen Gillan and Djimon Hounsou.
The action fantasy, which hails from Amazon MGM’s United Artists banner, is being directed by Chad Stahelski and is slated for a theatrical release. Production was to have started in late September/early October but was pushed after Cavill sustained an injury during pre-production. Production will now begin in early 2026.
Cavill is playing Connor MacLeod, a Medieval Scottish Highlander who discovers he is an immortal warrior. With the help of a swordsman named Ramirez, to be played by Crowe, the titular Highlander battles other immortals across the centuries, until, as the line in the original 1986 movie exclaimed, “There can be only one.”
Bautista is playing The Kurgen, the movie’s top villain, while Gillan is MacLeod’s Scottish and very mortal wife. Hounsou is an immortal warrior from Africa, while Abela is MacLeod’s modern romantic interest. Max Zhang and Drew McIntyre are also in the cast.
In a part that could be juicy, Irons will play the movie’s other antagonist, the leader of a secret order called The Watchers, who are keeping an eye on the immortals and see them as a threat to humanity.
Michael Finch wrote the script for the remake. Scott Stuber and Nick Nesbitt are producing via United Artists, alongside Neal H. Moritz, Stahelski’s 87Eleven Entertainment, Josh Davis of Davis Panzer Productions and Louise Rosner.
An acting veteran of stage and screens big and small, Irons is known for his range of projects, from historical dramas to action pieces. He is part of the cast of season four of Apple TV+’s The Morning Show, earned an Emmy nomination for HBO’s comic book limited series Watchmen, played butler Alfred Pennyworth in a series of DC movies, including 2023’s The Flash, and ris eprising his role of a shady former CIA director in Amazon’s The Beekeeper 2, now in production.
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