Netflix is making its way to 28 Barbary Lane. The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed that the streaming giant has ordered a 10-episode revival of “Tales of the City.” Based on the book series by Armistead Maupin, the original three-volume miniseries centered on the residents of a San Francisco boarding house owned by Olympia Dukakis’ Anna Madrigal. Both Dukakis and Laura Linney, who starred as boarder Mary Ann Singleton, have signed on for the new series.
Joining them is Ellen Page, who will portray Mary Ann’s estranged daughter, and Barbara Garrick, reprising her original role DeDe Halcyon Day.
The revival “follows Mary Ann, who returns home to San Francisco and is reunited with her daughter and ex-husband Brian 20 years after leaving them behind to pursue her career,” its synopsis reads. “Fleeing the midlife crisis that her picture-perfect Connecticut life created, Mary Ann returns home to her chosen family and will quickly be drawn back into the orbit of Anna Madrigal and the residents of 28 Barbary Lane.”
“Orange Is the New Black” writer-producer Lauren Morelli will pen the new “Tales of the City” and serve as showrunner. Linney and Maupin are among the project’s exec producers.
Production is expected to kick off in 2019.
The original “Tales of the City” was one of the first mainstream series to depict the LGBTQ community on-screen. During its run it netted two GLAAD awards, a Peabody, and several Emmy nominations.
“The magical, vivid world that Armistead Maupin built in ‘Tales of the City’ is one that offered so many — particularly the LGBTQ+ community — a home for the first time,” Morelli said. “For many, ‘Tales’ was the first time they saw themselves on screen. I am humbled to now find my own home within ‘Tales’ and to continue telling Armistead’s stories.”
“I couldn’t be more excited about this brand-new incarnation of ‘Tales,’ added Maupin. “It’s set in present-day San Francisco with all the joys and complications that might suggest for the residents of 28 Barbary Lane. Mrs. Madrigal’s tenants, both old and new, will be entangled in delicious new adventures and ever-expanding possibilities for love.”
