The series is based on the 2013 bestseller by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Laura Dern and Margaret Qualley will play the leading roles in the project by A24 and producer Jessica Rhoades. Julia Bicknell will write the adaptation and serve as showrunner. Netflix declined comment.
In Forever, Interrupted, the whirlwind romance between Elsie (Qualley, pictured right) and Ben is in full swing - within a few months they are married and living happily ever after - when Ben's unexpected death forces Elsie to come face to face. standing with Susan (Dern, photo left), the mother-in-law who doesn't know she exists.
The series is told through a double timeline and tells the love story between Elsie and Ben, interspersed with the unexpected journey of Elsie and Susan. Their initially turbulent bond ultimately brings both women a cathartic new beginning.
Executive producers are Rhoades and Alison Mo Massey for Pacesetter Productions, which has a first-look deal with A24; Reid, Brad Mendelsohn for Circle of Confusion; Dern and Jayme Lemons for Jaywalker Pictures; as well as Qualley and Brett Hedblom for I Understand Pictures. A24 is the studio.
The project was released about a month ago. In a difficult market, it generated interest from several buyers and eventually ended up at Netflix.
Forever, Interrupted would be a good fit for the channel, which has success with limited series about love and loss such as From Scratch and One Day, where the death of newlywed protagonist Emma mirrors that of Ben.
This also means a return to Netflix for all the main cast. Qualley was the lead actress of the hit series Maid in her first starring role on television, earning Emmy and Golden Globe nominations. Dern played the female lead in the animated comedy series F is for Family.
Bicknell began her career as a television writer at Netflix, working on 13 Reasons Why, The Haunting of Bly Manor and The Midnight Club. Rhoades serves as an executive producer on Black Mirror, coming from a previous first-look deal at the streamer. And A24 is behind another limited series, Beef, which won several television awards for Netflix last season.
Qualley, daughter of film actress Andie McDowell, is a two-time Emmy nominee for FX's Maid and Fosse/Verdon. She made her breakthrough with her role as Jill Garvey in HBO's The Leftovers.
Dern, an Oscar winner for Marriage Story and an Emmy winner for Big Little Lies, is executive producer and actress of Apple TV+'s Palm Royale, a series she and Lemons created.
Bicknell served as a writer-producer on Showtime's Yellowjackets, for which he received an Emmy nomination for the drama series.
Rhoades and A24 just secured Elle Kennedy's book Girl Abroad in a competitive auction for development. Chris Van Dusen, creator of Bridgerton, will make the adaptation. Rhoades' executive producership also includes HBO Max's limited series Station Eleven and HBO's Sharp Objects.