The network that sports hits like The Walking Dead and Interview with the Vampire will strip down to old-fashioned Americana.
The Hollywood Reporter has revealed early this morning that AMC Networks is working on a new franchise that is “built on iconic American stories.” AMC Studios will be producing a new series based on the famous John Steinbeck novel The Grapes of Wrath as part of a new series that is set to be called The Great American Stories anthology. The series will be airing on the AMC channel as well as streaming on AMC’s primary streaming service AMC+. The company stated, “Each season of the anthology series will be devoted to a different celebrated work, historical moment, or individual narrative celebrating and highlighting the American spirit.”
Rolin Jones, who adapted Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire for the network, will also be helming Grapes of Wrath before “managing the franchise” afterward and “working with acclaimed creative talent connected to individual seasons,” according to AMC. Jones’ resume also includes notable titles like Friday Night Lights and Boardwalk Empire. AMC chief commercial officer Kim Kelleher told THR, “I actually look at it as big and epic as what we’ve seen with Walking Dead, the Anne Rice universe and Dark Winds. Even if you haven’t read the book since high school, there’s a lot of expectation and build up around this. And I feel like the roster of talent he’s put around it is going to do it justice.”
The president of entertainment for AMC Studios and AMC Networks, Dan McDermott, told the press today, “For more than a year we have been searching for the perfect story to launch our next big television franchise, and we found it in The Grapes of Wrath, which is as timely and relevant today as it was when first published in 1939. Our country is built upon so many unforgettable historic and dramatic moments, tales of bravery and courage, classic novels, short stories, and chronicles well known and never-before-told. As a network that began its life as American Movie Classics, this is the franchise we’re destined to bring to the screen.”
Rolin Jones added, “We’re thinking about Great American Stories like one of those resolute car factories in Michigan — bring in visionary creators, give them an assembly line of singular talent to build the thing, hand them the keys and get the hell out of the way. This is Dan McDermott’s big, bold, torpedo bat swing at AMC. He’s hired me to roll a beauty off the factory floor every year. I hope to never have another job for the rest of my career.”
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