Berlanti To Adapt TV Series Of ‘The Forbidden Game’ Novels From ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Author LJ Smith
Greg Berlanti Productions continue their journey to make ever show on tv as news lands that WBTV has acquired the rights for ubiquitous production company to produce a series based on LJ Smith’s trilogy of YA horror novels, ‘The Forbidden Game’.
The novel follows 17yr old Jenny Thornton, who is searching for a game for her boyfriend Tom’s birthday. Entering the “More Games” store, she finds herself inexplicably drawn to Julian, the gorgeous cyber-punk with electric blue eyes and frost-white hair, behind the counter. He hands her an unmarked and un-decorated game which she takes home to play with her friends at the party that evening.
But as Jenny and her six friends begin to play the Game at Tom’s birthday celebration, a night of friends and fun quickly turns into a night of terror and obsessive love. Because the Game isn’t just a game – it’s the seven friends’ new reality, where Julian reigns as the Prince of the Shadows. One by one the friends must confront their phobias to win the Game. To lose the Game is to lose their lives. And that is only the beginning…
Two novel series from LJ Smith have aired on The CW previously. The aforementioned ‘Vampire Diaries’ which ran for eight seasons, and ‘The Secret Circle’ which only made it to one season before being cancelled. There is currently no writer attached to ‘The Forbidden Game’ series, but Berlanti Productions will produce with Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden as exec producers.
Berlanti Productions have got a huge string of shows either on-air or in production right now. On-air, they have the entire Arrowverse, ‘Titans’, ‘Doom Patrol’, ‘Stargirl’, ‘You’, ‘Blindspot’, ‘Riverdale’, ‘Chilling Adventures of Sabrina’, ‘Katy Keene’, ‘All American’ and ‘Prodigal Son’. Currently picked up to come in 2020/2021 they have ‘Superman & Lois’, the ‘Kung Fu’ remake, ‘The Flight Attendant’ starring Kaley Cuoco, and the ‘Green Lantern’ series for HBO Max. There is also the potential ‘Green Arrow and the Canaries’ series which is still waiting to hear if it will join the Arrowverse at some point.
‘The Forbidden Game’ is only in development at the moment, so might not make it to series, although we’d expect it to at least land a pilot given Berlanti is behind it. We’ll let you know when we hear more.
