The only way Elizabeth Bennet could be more over gender roles and pointless class divisions is if she was somehow forced to participate in a Texas debutante ball. Sadly for Lizzie — but happily for us — that’s the premise of Jonah Lisa Dyer and Stephen Dyer’s novel “The Season.” Deadline reports that Warner Bros. has obtained the feature rights to the the modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic “Pride and Prejudice.”
“The Season” follows Megan, “a clever tomboy and soccer star who’s forced into the elite Dallas debutante season by her mother,” the source summarizes. “The teen’s rebellious behavior and sharp tongue quickly put her on probation. While navigating the cutthroat debutante culture, Megan also juggles a tumultuous romance and a complicated relationship with her perfect twin sister.”
According to Deadline, Temple Hill Entertainment’s Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey are set to produce the proect. Julia Spiro (“Now You See Me”) originally brought the book to Warner Bros. and Jaclyn Huntling Swatt will oversee development on behalf of Temple Hill. Dyers’ novel was published by Viking Children’s Books in summer 2016.
Temple Hill’s previous YA adaptations include Shailene Woodley-starrer “The Fault in Our Stars” and the “Twilight” franchise.
“Pride and Prejudice” was first published in 1813 and traces the passionate sparring and eventual romance between Miss Lizzie Bennet and Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy. The beloved book has received dozens of screen adaptations and retellings including the 1995 miniseries toplined by Jennifer Ehle and Colin Firth, the 2005 feature film starring Keira Knightley, and Sharon Maguire’s 2001 romantic comedy “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Its most recent iteration was last year’s “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies,” a supernatural-horror take on the novel toplined by “Downton Abbey’s” Lily James.
