APPLE TV+ GIVES A STRAIGHT-TO-SERIES ORDER FOR LADY IN THE LAKE

Apple announced on March 10, 2021, that it had given a straight-to-series order for a new TV show titled Lady in the Lake. The series itself is a mystery still, but we have gathered all the available information about the show here and we are going to present it to you in today’s article. Based on what we know, Lady in the Lake might be a real hit for Apple TV+, whose roster is becoming better and better with each new announcement.

Now, Lady of the Lake is a TV show based on Laura Lippman’s bestseller of the same name, which was a New York Times bestseller once it came out in 2019. The official synopsis for the novel is described as follows: “In 1966, Baltimore is a city of secrets that everyone seems to know—everyone, that is, except Madeline “Maddie” Schwartz.

Last year, she was a happy, even pampered housewife. This year, she’s bolted from her marriage of almost twenty years, determined to make good on her youthful ambitions to live a passionate, meaningful life. Maddie wants to matter, to leave her mark on a swiftly changing world. Drawing on her own secrets, she helps Baltimore police find a murdered girl—assistance that leads to a job at the city’s afternoon newspaper, the Star. Working at the newspaper offers Maddie the opportunity to make her name, and she has found just the story to do it: Cleo Sherwood, a missing woman whose body was discovered in the fountain of a city park lake.

If Cleo were white, every reporter in Baltimore would be clamoring to tell her story. Instead, her mysterious death receives only cursory mention in the daily newspapers, and no one cares when Maddie starts poking around in a young Black woman’s life—except for Cleo’s ghost, who is determined to keep her secrets and her dignity. Cleo scolds the ambitious Maddie: You’re interested in my death, not my life. They’re not the same thing.

Maddie’s investigation brings her into contact with people that used to be on the periphery of her life—a jewelry store clerk, a waitress, a rising star on the Baltimore Orioles, a patrol cop, a hardened female reporter, a lonely man in a movie theater. But for all her ambition and drive, Maddie often fails to see the people right in front of her. Her inability to look beyond her own needs will lead to tragedy and turmoil for all sorts of people—including Ferdie, the man who shares her bed, a police officer who is risking far more than Maddie can understand.“

As for the adaptation, it has a pretty impressive production team. The companies Crazyrose and Bad Wolf America serve as the principal producers, joined by Zusa. The first is going to be represented by principals Jean-Marc Vallée and Nathan Ross, the second by Julie Gardner, while the third is going to be represented by Alma Har’el and her producing partner Christopher Leggett. Har’el is also going to serve as the director and co-writer of the complete show, which is a pretty impressive feat. Alongside them, the show’s main stars, actresses Natalie Portman and Lupita Nyong’o are also going to serve as executive producers on the show.

Natalie Portman is going to play Madeline Schwartz, the protagonist involved in the chief mystery of the novel. Portman, an Academy Award-winning actress also known for her SF and superhero outings, is going to have her first television main role in Lady in the Lake. She has previously done some television work (mostly voice work, some guest appearances), but Lady in the Lake is going to be her first main role in a television series and it seems that this strong, female-centered is going to be just perfect for her. Her co-star on the show will be another Academy Award winner, Lupita Nyong’o, who is playing Cleo Sherwood, a working woman who also dedicated her life to advancing the Black progressive agenda in Baltimore. Other roles are unknown as of this moment.

Since this announcement is a relatively new one, we don’t know anything else about the show. This includes the release date, the number of episodes and the start of the production. The only other information we know is that the studio working on the show is Endeavor Content.

And with this, we conclude our coverage of Apple TV+’s new show. As you can see, Lady in the Lake is going to be a highly entertaining and thrilling show with strong female characters, and something we are certainly looking forward to. With two strong leads, Lady in the Lake promises to be a hit for Apple TV+ and we are going to keep an eye out for new information as they come, especially the ones related to the start of production and the release date.