According to Deadline, Gossip Girl‘s Felicia D. Henderson has been tapped to adapt the young adult novel Legendborn, a fantasy that gives a modern twist to the King Arthur story. Tracy Deonn wrote the book in 2020. The series currently does not have a network, but production company Black Bear Television is currently shopping the program around. Legendborn is a relatively recent hit, sitting an impressive nine weeks at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list.
Legendborn, which hails from Simon & Schuster, currently stands as one of the prominent fantasy novels for young adults. The plot is as follows:
“After her mother dies in an accident, Bree Matthews leaves home to attend her mother’s alma mater, the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Upon arrival, Bree unexpectedly uncovers a centuries-old supernatural war and the world of the ‘Legendborn’, a secret society made up of the magic-wielding, demon-fighting direct descendants of King Arthur and his knights. As she dives deeper into this dangerous world, Bree becomes increasingly suspicious about what really happened the night her mother died. Perhaps it was not an accident after all. In her quest to unravel this mystery, Bree will discover her own unique magical abilities, and will have to answer to her fate in the impending magical war.”
The combination of both Deonn and Henderson on the series is an interesting yet smart one. Legendborn is Deonn‘s debut novel, yet Henderson has served as an executive producer and writer on several programs. She has worked on Fringe, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Quad. Her relationship with Netflix is also a strong qualifier, as she’s been a writer on The Punisher and is the showrunner of current YA series First Kill. Meanwhile, Deonn is hard at work completing the Legendborn trilogy, with sequel Bloodmarked slated for release in November.
Legendborn would make a nice home at a plethora of streaming services or networks. Netflix houses several prominent YA shows with Stranger Things, Raising Dion, and 13 Reasons Why some prominent examples. It also could make a strong presence on a more emerging platform like Apple TV+ or Paramount+, which are certainly still elbowing their way through the streaming landscape. With two more novels on the way, a very solid foundation for a series could easily emerge.
via Collider