Raised By Wolves: ABC Developing US Version of Cancelled UK Sitcom

Diablo Cody’s Raised By Wolves TV series project lands at ABC. (Photo: Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com.)

Diablo Cody’s Raised By Wolves TV show project with Berlanti Productions has landed at ABC with a script commitment plus penalty, Deadline reports. It is inspired by the British Raised By Wolves TV series, which was cancelled by UK Channel 4 after two series (seasons), earlier this month, prompting sister-creators Caitlin Moran and Caroline Moran (aka Caz) to launch a renewal campaign.

Written by the Juno feature film writer, the report says the US version of Raised By Wolves, “…centers on Sheila Gable, a single parent and one tough mother. Joining Sheila are her dad and five offbeat kids as they try to survive on a shoestring budget in a (not) beautiful Midwestern town.” Per Deadline, Cody, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter, and the Morans are executive producing with Big Talk’s Kenton Allen and Matthew Justice, as well as Caroline Leddy.

Here is more, from Deadline:

The half-hour, single-camera project is part of a push into comedy for Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Prods., which has six drama series on the air. It is expected to be the first of several half-hour projects taken out this year by the Warner Bros TV-based company, which Berlanti runs with president Sarah Schechter.

It was Schechter who fell in love with the Channel 4 series Raised By Wolves, which was created and written by popular British columnist and author Caitlin Moran and her sister Caroline based on their childhood experience […]

As she began chasing rights to the series, Schechter reached out to Cody about joining the project as a producer as Schechter felt that Caitlin Moran shared a similar sensibility with the Oscar winner and the show featured the type of central characters Cody knows and does very well — smart teenagers and a strong mother. Not only did Cody come on board, she offered to write the adaptation. After securing U.S. rights from UK producer Big Talk in a competitive situation, Berlanti Prods. went on to develop the project internally, with Cody writing a pilot script, tapping into her Midwest upbringing to transplant the comedy from the British Midlands to middle America. Caitlin Moran was involved in the process, giving notes.

With its strong mother at the center and blue-collar setting, Raised By Wolves draws parallels to Roseanne, making ABC a logical home for the adaptation.

Tig Notaro created the One Mississippi TV series with Cody. It premieres on Amazon next month. Her other TV work includes two episodes of Children’s Hospital, which ended in April after seven seasons on Adult Swim. She also created the United States of Tara TV show starring Toni Collette, which was canceled after three seasons on Showtime.

What do you think? Are you a fan of Diablo Cody’s writing? If the US version of Raised By Wolves is ordered to series by ABC, will you watch? Who would you cast?