Jenji Kohan, best known for creating Showtime’s Weeds and Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, is working on her first period piece for HBO.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that the Salem period drama “explores the circumstances around one of the most compelling chapters in American history where intolerance and repression set neighbor against neighbor and led a town to mass hysteria.”
Salem, Massachusetts is well-known for its witch trials, which were infamously held in the late 1600s. It’s also known for its involvement with the Revolutionary War and was a critical seaport for America. Given Kohan’s background, we’re thinking (and hoping) the show involves the witch trials.
Kohan is writing the script with two co-writers and is being developed under her deal with Lionsgate TV.
Weeds and Orange have been major successes for their respective networks, and the latter is currently shooting its second season. Netflix says the show is their most-streamed series in the site’s history.
Kohan isn’t the only big name creator with a project in development at HBO. Glee and American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy is working on a sexuality pilot titled Open at the pay cabler.