The CW is dipping its toes into historical fiction with a new series based on Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women.
With Reign entering its third season this fall, and The CW’s repeated attempts to adapt The Selection, it seems the network is looking to branch out into period-based fantasy fiction.
Deadline reports that the network has bought a pilot script based on the classic 1868 novel Little Women, written by rising writer Alexis Jolly.
Before you get too excited though, please note that The CW’s Little Women, if it’s ordered to series, would be nothing like the book you know and love.
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The original novel centers on four sisters, who navigate through the murky territory between childhood and adulthood, experiencing first love and heartbreaking tragedy as they grow up in Civil War-era New England.
Jolly’s script is described as, “A hyper-stylized, gritty adaptation of the 1868 novel by Louisa May Alcott, in which disparate half-sisters Jo, Meg, Beth, and Amy band together in order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia and unravel a conspiracy that stretches far beyond anything they have ever imagined – all while trying not to kill each other in the process.”
Indubitably inspired by Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Jolly is updating the classic tale for a new generation, bringing us another example of what can best be described as “professional AU fan fiction” based on an age-old story.
And we’re not gonna lie, it sounds kind of awesome.
If The CW gives Little Women a pilot order, it’ll be produced by Michael Weatherly of Dark Angel fame. Weatherly currently stars as Anthony DiNozzo on NCIS.
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