Julie Plec and Universal Television are teaming up to adapt a trio of bestselling titles from author E. Lockhart. Per Deadline, Plec and Universal Television have acquired the rights to We Were Liars, Family of Liars and Again Again.
We Were Liars is described as a tragic love story and amnesia thriller that is set on a privately owned island off the coast of Massachusetts. It features a “beautiful and distinguished family,” and a “brilliant, damaged girl” and a “passionate, political body.” The book has become a TikTok phenomenon and has been on the New York Times bestseller’s list for the past twenty-two months.
Family of Liars, one of the books optioned, is a prequel to We Were Liars. It brings readers back inside of the world crafted in We Were Liars and sees another generation during another summer, featuring brand new secrets that’ll haunt them for decades to come.
While Again Again is a story about a girl named Adelaide Buchwald who finds herself catapulted into a wild summer following a near-fatal family catastrophe. Like We Were Liars and Family of Liars, Again Again features plenty of secrets while also exploring the possibilities of love and the “grandiosity of the human mind.”
“I’ve chased We Were Liars for years,” Plec said in a statement to Deadline. “It’s one of the best YA novels I’ve ever read, and I’ve read a lot. It’s mysterious, romantic and devastating — and Family of Liars showed me just how sprawling and multi-generational the series can be. Being able to adapt it for television is a career highlight for me — not to mention how thrilled I am to bring the lovely, intimate, emotional journey that is Again Again to life with Carina and the Emilys (Lockhart and Cummins).”
Carina Adley MacKenzie, who worked with Plec on Roswell New Mexico and The Originals, will co-write the adaptation of Again Again with Lockhart. And while Plec is set to adapt both We Were Liars and Family of Liars, MacKenzie will serve as the showrunner on the series with Plec on board as an executive producer.
Source: Deadline
