‘The Buccaneers’: Apple TV+ Working On Its Own ‘Bridgerton’
Edith Wharton’s unfinished final novel, The Buccaneers, is set to be adapted into an eight-episode drama at Apple TV+.
It’s the latest entrant into the popular period drama market that includes Bridgerton and The Gilded Age.
Written and created by Katherine Jakeways (Tracey Ullman’s Show), the series revolves around a group of fun-loving young American girls who explode into the tightly corseted London season of the 1870s, setting off an Anglo-American culture clash. But, while sent to secure husbands and titles, the buccaneers’ hearts are set on much more than that, and saying “I do” is just the beginning.
The series stars Kristine Froseth (The Assistant) as Nan St. George, Alisha Boe (13 Reasons Why) as Conchita Closson, Josie Totah (Saved by the Bell) as Mabel Elmsworth, Aubri Ibrag (Dive Club) as Lizzy Elmsworth, Imogen Waterhouse (The Outpost) as Jinny St. George, and Mia Threapleton (I Am Ruth) as Honoria Marable.
BAFTA Award winner Susanna White (Bleak House) will direct the series, as well as serving as executive producer alongside Beth Willis (Doctor Who), George Faber (Generation Kill), and Jakeways. The as-yet-untitled series is produced for Apple TV+ by The Forge Entertainment and is currently in production in Scotland.
Wharton was the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Literature, for her novel The Age of Innocence, and was highly regarded for her realistic portrayals of the lives and morals of the Gilded Age. The Buccaneers was unfinished at the time of her death in 1937 and published in that form in 1938. Author Marion Mainwaring later finished the novel, following Wharton’s detailed outline, in 1993.
There is no word yet on a potential premiere date.
The Buccaneers, TBA, Apple TV+
