The Refrigerator Monologues Is Coming To Amazon Retitled As Deadtown

Shauna Cross has picked up the rights to develop Catherynne M. Valente’s novella ‘The Refrigerator Monologues’ as a new ongoing series by Amazon Studios titled ‘Deadtown.’

For those unfamiliar with the source material, the novella was created after Gwen Stacy was killed off in the 2014 release of ‘The Amazing Spider-Man 2.’ While the idea of “fridging’ female characters to advance a male hero is not new and originally happened to Stacy back in 1973, it is an idea we’ve seen overly used in the following years even as recently as being one of the main plot points to this year’s release of ‘Deadpool 2.’

In this novella, we see five women who were recently killed meet in a purgatory called Deadtown. There, they discover that all they were able to accomplish in their lives was to motivate the superhero men who they had come in contact with which resulted in each of them dying. However, they learn here that they have powers too and decide that it is time to create their own stories and not just be the emotional sideline to the heroes they once were connected to.

Cross is developing the pilot with Entertainment One and Grey Matter Entertainment for Amazon Studios and also serves as an Executive Producer with Lawrence Grey, Ben Everard, Cliff Roberts, and Catherynne M. Valente. Valente herself is finding a lot of success in Hollywood, as well as her “Space Opera”, was just picked up by Universal which has both Marc Platt and Colin Trevorrow attached.

The official synopsis for the book describes it as:

The lives of six female superheroes and the girlfriends of superheroes. A ferocious riff on women in superhero comics

From the New York Times bestselling author Catherynne Valente comes a series of linked stories from the points of view of the wives and girlfriends of superheroes, female heroes, and anyone who’s ever been “refrigerated”: comic book women who are killed, raped, brainwashed, driven mad, disabled, or had their powers taken so that a male superhero’s storyline will progress.

In an entirely new and original superhero universe, Valente subversively explores these ideas and themes in the superhero genre, treating them with the same love, gravity, and humor as her fairy tales. After all, superheroes are our new fairy tales, and these six women have their own stories to share.

It is always a delight to see typical stories turned on their side to bring us an original idea, and ‘Deadtown’ looks to be delivering that in spades. The idea appears open enough to give us a multi-season series as long as Amazon Studios and audiences both love the concept when it comes to life.

Are you looking forward to checking out ‘Deadtown’? If you’ve read ‘The Refrigerator Monologues’ how well do you feel it will translate to the small screen? Share your thoughts in the comments below!

Source: Deadline Hollywood