Breaking Bad Writer Moira Walley-Beckett to Write New Anne Of Green Gables TV Series

One of Canada’s most beloved book series, Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, will be given new life on Canada’s CCTV. The story centers on Anne, who spent a rough early childhood in orphanages, and is mistakenly sent to live with an elderly spinster and her aging brother. In time she comes to transform their lives and the town they live in with her unique spirit and imagination.

An impressive team of women is set to produce the series including Breaking Bad writer Moira Walley-Beckett, who won the best writer Emmy for her work on a season 5 episode of that show. The women joining her in the production of the show, which will simply be titled Anne, are Miranda de Pencier (Thanks for Sharing, Beginners), Alison Owen (Suffragette, Temple Grandin) and Debra Hayward (Pride and Prejudice,Les Misérables).

Walley-Becket expressed her excitement about the project, saying:

Adapting Anne really excites me. Anne’s issues are contemporary issues: feminism, prejudice, bullying and a desire to belong. The stakes are high and her emotional journey is tumultuous. I’m thrilled to delve deeply into this resonant story, push the boundaries and give it new life.

Production of the first 8 episodes should begin this spring, and the show is set to be on air in 2017. Anne of Green Gables has been made into several movies and series, but it was CCTV who first brought it to the screen with their miniseries 30 years ago. If you want a GIF recap on that adaption, look no further. CBC said that while the new series will follow the trajectory of the novels, it will also “explore new territory” and the characters will experience “original adventures.”