Nancy Drew
The literary sleuth transitions to the small screen with edgy mysteries for a new generation
I, Spy
It’s been 24 years since Nancy Drew, the amateur teenage investigator created in 1930 for a series of American mystery books, has been on TV. But executive producers Melinda Hsu Taylor (The Vampire Diaries) and Noga Landau (The Magicians) are giving it a whirl, with Kennedy McMann playing the heroine. “I have quite a long history with Nancy Drew,” McMann tells SFX. “I grew up reading the books. When [the role] came about, I was like, ‘I’ve been doing this my whole life, I’m ready to go.’”
Sexy Snooper
A decidedly contemporary take on the character, McMann says some may be shocked to see her Drew have sex and speak her mind. “It’s so much less taboo to be showing women how they actually are, and how they actually want to live their lives and pursue things. [Nancy] is very prim and proper in the 1930s editions of the books, and we’re showing her in a more modern context. I think there’s a broader market for riskier material.”
CraCkIng CaSeS
The first case will involve Drew and four other teens from Horseshoe Bay, Maine, who are under suspicion for the murder of a local socialite. “The case in the pilot is the case that we will be unraveling through the course of the season,” says Hsu Taylor. However, there will be smaller mysteries of the week Drew will also pursue. “We’ve got this part of the mission to unfold, and another little mini mystery will become revealed to us through the things we’re doing. It’s a really satisfying season-long mystery, but every week is going to be very satisfying as well.”
Supernatural SuSpICIonS
4 Much like the original books, the series will also dip into the supernatural realm, including Nancy seeing the ghost of a young woman who was murdered years before. “There are ghosts in our show,” Landau confirms. “The way to really look at it is that most of the things that are supernatural are rooted in something that’s happening mysteriously in the real world. Everything is rooted in emotion, or some mystery amongst the living that’s unresolved.”
thrIllIng threadS
While the mysteries featured in the source material were rather quaint and took their time to unfold, Laundau says they will cover a lot of ground with Drew. “Nancy has a lot of mysteries to solve. And some of the biggest ones are who are her friends, really, because as she’s becoming friends with them, she’s knocking them off the suspect list.” Hsu Taylor adds that audiences should look for their show to serve up a wild ride: “[Viewers] really want cliffhangers at the end of every episode and we aim to deliver. And I think that the complexity of the world we live in is something that we want to embrace, and that we’re very proud to embrace on this version of Nancy Drew.”
Nancy Drew debuts on 9 October in the US on The CW – UK date TBC.