The CW has been spending a lot of time in the literary department of late. Not only have they revamped the classic ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and are currently working on an updated version of ‘Sleepy Hollow,’ now that have jumped on Lewis Carroll’s classic novel ‘Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland, ‘ commonly known as ‘Alice in Wonderland.’

The series, which will be called ‘Wunderland,’ currently has a script order from the CW network. Chad Hodge, who wrote and created the short lived NBC series ‘The Playboy Club,’ will write the script for ‘Wunderland’ as well as executive produce with McG (‘Supernatural,’ ‘Chuck,’ ‘Terminator Salvation’) and Peter Johnson under their Wonderland production company.

The hour long drama is said to be an update version of the iconic tale centering on a young female detective in present day Los Angeles who discovers another world that exists under the surface of the city.

The premise is very reminiscent of the 1980’s version of ‘Beauty and the Beast’ without the Beast (but since this is the CW, no doubt a “Beast” will be introduced as a love interest sometime in the series). It also sounds very similar to the ABC project ‘Gotham’ which revolved around a female cop who discovers a magical world unseen by normal humans but exists in New York City. Although ‘Gotham’ received a pilot order, the show was not picked up by the network.

This project shouldn’t be confused with the Lionsgate version of their yet to be titled TV series based on the ‘Wonderland’ books which is also a modern day retelling of the Lewis Carroll story ‘Alice in Wonderland’ but told from the point of view of Alice’s daughter. Lionsgate beat out Warner Bros for the TV rights to the trilogy and last heard was looking for a writer to adapt them for the small screen. Lionsgate’s project has ‘Smallville’s’ Brian Robbins on board to produce.

CW is truly setting itself as a genre network with the projects that have in development right now. So far, script orders for ‘Embrace,’ ‘Battle Royale’ and an origin ‘Wonder Woman’ series are in the works to join their already sci-fi/fantasy line up which includes the new shows ‘Arrow,’ ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Dr. Horrible’s Sing-a-Long Blog.’

In the next few months, news as to which projects gets a pilot order should be known so keep checking back here!

 

Source: Deadline