The book-to-film adaptation of Becky Albertalli’s Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda is being spun off into a TV series at Disney.
Fox 2000 put out the critically acclaimed LGBT YA film Love Simon last year, but Disney acquired 20th Century Fox and several of its studios in March. Now, Disney is working to turn the story of Simon and his friends into a TV series for their forthcoming streaming app Disney+.
The news originally came from Pride.com and was quickly confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, who says this is a straight-to-series order.
Update (Friday, April 12): Addressing conflicting media reports on Friday, author Becky Albertalli announced that the show will “NOT [be] an adaption of Leah on the Offbeat, nor is it a remake of the movie. It is a spin-off set in the world of Simon.”
Previous reports had indicated it would be based on Leah or be a reboot of the movie.
Love Simon director Greg Berlanti will not be involved due to his deal with Warner Brothers TV, but the film’s screenwriters Elizabeth Berger and Isaac Aptaker will run the series. The show will have an entirely new cast, according to reports.
A TV series with gay characters is a big deal for Disney, who’s shied away from putting LGBT characters in leading roles (or any roles…) in their films. What’s also notable here is that they wouldn’t be too far behind Netflix launching their own scripted LGBT series — Special (trailer below) arrives April 12, and a new show starring RuPaul titled AJ and the Queen arrives later this year.
Disney has been very busy setting up originals for Disney+. Earlier today we told you about a slew of unscripted series starring big names like Kristen Bell.
Disney+ will be open this November in the United States.
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