Apple has picked up an untitled Kristen Wiig comedy series in a competitive bidding situation, beating out several other outlets. Apple has previously plunked down some big bucks for what will be the first shows on thisApple streaming service, which will include a reboot of the 1980s seriesAmazing Stories, while last month Apple issued a straight-to-series order for an untitled sci-fi drama fromBattlestar Galacticacreator Ronald D. Moore. Apple is said to be spending $1 billion this year alone on streaming content, although that number pales in comparison to the $6 billion Netflix spent last year.
This new comedy series is inspired by Curtis Sittenfeld’s upcoming short-story collection You Think It, I’ll Say It, which will be published by Random House on April 24. No details were given regarding Kristen Wiig and her role in the show. Reese Witherspoon is serving as an executive producer with her Hello Sunshine partner Lauren Neustadter, alongside series creator and showrunner Colleen McGuinness (30 Rock), and Kristen Wiig. While no story details have been given, the upcoming book is a collection of 10 short stories, so it’s possible this could be a comedy anthology series. Here’s the official description of the upcoming book below.
“Throughout the ten stories inYou Think It, I’ll Say It, Sittenfeld upends assumptions about class, relationships, and gender roles in a nation that feels both adrift and viscerally divided. InThe World Has Many Butterflies, married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences. InVox Clamantis in Deserto, a shy Ivy League student learns the truth about a classmate’s seemingly enviable life. InA Regular Couple, a high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school. And inThe Prairie Wife, a suburban mother of two fantasizes about the downfall of an old friend whose wholesome-lifestyle empire may or may not be built on a lie. With moving insight and uncanny precision, Curtis Sittenfeld pinpoints the questionable decisions, missed connections, and sometimes extraordinary coincidences that make up a life. Indeed, she writes what we’re all thinking-if only we could express it with the wit of a master satirist, the storytelling gifts of an old-fashioned raconteur, and the vision of an American original.”
With this untitled program, Apple has picked up five new shows, and this will be the third that Reese Witherspoon is involved with. Aside fromAmazing Storiesand theRonald D. Moore sci-fi series, which is now entitledSee, Apple has picked up an untitled drama series centering around a morning talk show, which Reese Witherspoon is starring in and producing alongside Jennifer Aniston. Reese Witherspoon is also producing another series entitledAre You Sleeping?, based on the novel by Kathleen Barber, which has Octavia Spencer set to star. There is no indication as of yet as to which of these five programs will actually start production first, although the Apple streaming service has been rumored to launch late this year.
While she has mainly focused her work on the big screen these days, with starring roles inGhostbusters,Masterminds,mother!andDownsizing, Kristen Wiig is certainly no stranger to the small screen. She starred onSaturday Night Liveas a regular cast member from 2005 to 2012 and earned three Emmy nominations. She also appeared as a young Lucille Bluth onArrested Development, starred as Cynthia Moorehouse on the mini-seriesThe Spoils of Babylonand appeared as Courtney inWet Hot American Summer: First Day of CampandWet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later. She also had an arc as Pamela Brinton on Fox’sThe Last Man on Earthlast year.The Hollywood Reporterbroke the news on this series earlier today.
