EXCLUSIVE: Dynamic Television is plotting to turn George Dawes Green‘s Southern Gothic crime novel The Kingdoms of Savannah into a TV series.
The transatlantic production house has optioned the rights to the book, with writer Sheri Holman (George & Tammy, Palm Royale) attached to write a pilot script. She will also be showrunner and executive producer.
Dan March and Carrie Stein will EP for Dynamic, which is known for series such as Harry Wild, The Sommerdahl Murders and Drops of God.
The novel is set the hauntingly beautiful but treacherous landscape of Georgia, where on a balmy Southern night at a local watering hole, a murder and mysterious disappearance set the stage for an unlikely detective — the doyenne of Savannah society, Morgana Musgrove. She is imperious, demanding and conniving, with four grown children are weary of her schemes. However, one by one she cajoles them into helping her investigation, and soon the family uncovers some terrifying truths that will rock Savannah’s power structure to its core.
Hitting shelves in 2022, it won the 2023 Gold Dagger Award from the Crime Writers’ Association. It had such impact that it inspired a real-life search for the ruins of a secret fortress built in the last 1700s by fugitives from slavery.
“The Kingdoms of Savannah ticks all the boxes: unforgettable characters that will attract top talent, a complex crime story with twists and turns, and a setting that will transport audiences to a world dripping in secrets, history, and sweltering Savannah heat,” said Stein, President of Global Scripted at Dynamic. “We are thrilled to have the super talented Sheri Holman on board to adapt this riveting story into many seasons of television to come.”
“George and I have been telling stories together for over twenty five years, so to bring his singular masterpiece of a novel to television feels like going home,” said Holman. “I’m thrilled to be working with this stellar Dynamic team and can’t wait to introduce TV audiences to Morgana Musgrove, a detective as compelling and contradictory as Savannah itself.”
Green said he had “loved Sheri Holman’s delicious and demonic and fiercely original storytelling since her first novel, A Stolen Tongue,” and added: “No one alive could take better care of Morgana Musgrove, and I’m thrilled that she’s working with the visionaries at Dynamic to keep embroidering this world.”
His previous novels include The Caveman’s Valentine, which was was adapted into a film starring Samuel L. Jackson, and The Juror, which was adapted into a feature starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin.
Holman is currently an exec producer on Apple TV+ series Palm Royale, starring Kristen Wiig, Laura Dern and Carol Burnett. The Shirley Jackson Award winner’s credits include George & Tammy, Filthy Rich, Barkskins and Longmire, and she is a founding member of The Moth, a storytelling non-profit that Green created.
Holman is repped by CAA and Marathon Management.