Bob Greenblatt, NBC’s chairman, revealed to the reporters at the Television Critics Association yesterday that the company are going to be producing an adaptation of L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz books.
NBC has described their reworking of the classic tale to be a “dramatic and modern re-imagining of the tales that include lethal warriors, competing kingdoms, and the infamous wizard as we’ve never seen him before”. They have also claimed that “a lot of new characters” will be created for the series.
The upcoming drama series is to be called Emerald City and is going to centre around the strong-minded character of Dorothy Gale, played by Judy Garland in the original film. NBC are planning to put a dark twist on their adaptation of all of L. Frank Baum’s 14 books, focusing mainly on the battle between good and evil.
The Wizard of Oz has been subject to many modern re-tellings, the most recent being Oz: The Great and the Powerful, which claimed a spot in the top ten of the highest grossing films of 2013 by earning over $230 million at box office.
Last year, Warner Bros. also re-released a digitally-remaster 3D version of The Wizard of Oz into US cinemas for one week to celebrate the film’s 75th anniversary. Watch the trailer for the dedicatory release below.
