Beloved 80s cult classic “Heathers” is being made into an anthology series. The project has received a pilot order, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Leslye Headland (“Sleeping With Other People,” “Bachelorette”) has signed on to direct. The single-camera dark comedy will be set in the present day, and The Hollywood Reporter writes that the series will introduce a “new set of popular-yet-evil Heathers — only this time the outcasts have become high school royalty. Heather McNamara (originally played by Lisanne Falk) is a black lesbian; Heather Duke ([originally played by] Shannen Doherty) is a male who identifies as gender-queer whose real name is Heath; and Heather Chandler ([originally played by] Kim Walker) has a body like Martha Dumptruck.”
While Headland didn’t see the teen cult classic growing up, she felt an immediate connection to “Heathers” when she finally caught it in her 20s. “I related with it so much,” she told THR. She was impressed by the boundary-pushing film with memorable quotations such as, “I love my dead gay son,” and “Dear Diary, my teen angst bullshit has a body count.”
“I can’t believe they got away with so much,” Headland said. “The movie was a huge influence on an entire generation and it’ll be nice to introduce this to a new generation.”
Those familiar with Headland’s work, particularly her underappreciated “Bachelorette,” know that she has a gift for hilarious portrayals of awful, mean-spirited characters.
The original 1988 film version of “Heathers,” written by Daniel Waters and directed by Michael Lehmann, starred Winona Ryder and Christian Slater. Their destructive romance leads to deaths, with Slater’s character pressuring Ryder’s to rebel against her popular, mean girl friends and dismantle their high school’s social hierarchy. “Heathers’s” influence can be seen in films such as “Jawbreaker” and “Mean Girls.”
Production for TV Land’s “Heathers” pilot is expected to kick off in the fall. The Hollywood Reporter writes that “insiders say the anthology component will be similar to FX’s ‘Fargo’ and feature a new group of ‘Heathers’ — no matter the setting.”
