Connie Britton will star in a television adaptation of Ann Napolitano’s Dear Edward, Variety reports.
The Nashville and The White Lotus star will reunite with executive producer Jason Katims, who worked with Britton on Friday Night Lights, the hit show based on H.G. Bissinger’s 1990 book.
Napolitano’s novel, published in 2020 by Dial, tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who’s the sole survivor of a plane crash that kills his brother, parents, and scores of other passengers. A critic for Kirkus called the book “well-written and insightful but so heartbreaking that it raises the question of what a reader is looking for in fiction.”
Also starring in the Apple series will be Taylor Schilling, who played the lead character in Orange Is the New Black, and Colin O’Brien, who’s set to act alongside Timothée Chalamet and Olivia Colman in the forthcoming Wonka.
Executive producers on the series include Katims, Napolitano, Jeni Mulein (Almost Family), and actor Fisher Stevens, who will direct the pilot episode. Katims is writing the adaptation.
Napolitano shared news of the series on Instagram, writing, “This is hard to believe, but exciting!…Jason Katims is an amazing writer, and I’m thrilled to have Dear Edward in his hands.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
