NBC has joined the sudden rush to get L. Frank Baum’s timeless Oz stories on the small screen. The network has reportedly bought a project called Emerald City that will be based on Baum’s stories beyond The Wizard of Oz.
Deadline reported on the project today. It comes from Matthew Arnold, the creator and showrunner of the network’s Siberia. That show has been airing on Mondays at 10 p.m. and hasn’t drawn much attention.
Still, NBC must be interested in Arnold’s new look at the Oz world. The project will be produced by Universal TV and is described as Game of Thrones-style. It will focus on stories pulled from Baum’s 14 Oz books.
Arnold also wrote and directed the thriller Shadow People, which starred Allison Eastwood.
NBC is just the latest network to show interest in Oz. Back in July, SyFy began developing Timur Bekmambetov’s Warriors of Oz, which takes a fantasy/action look. On Aug. 9, CBS picked up Dorothy, a New York-set medical drama with Oz characters and themes.
All this interest in Oz has come up as the 1939 classic film celebrates its 75th anniversary this year with an IMAX run in September.
image: Amazon