Freeform developing series based on Henry James’ The Turn of the Screw

Last Updated on July 21, 2021

120 years after it was first published, the story Henry James told in his novella The Turn of the Screw remains very popular – so much that Freeform, the television channel formerly known as ABC Family, is developing a series based on the story while Amblin Entertainment is planning a theatrical release of their own feature film adaptation.

Amblin's THE TURNING (which has no connection to the Freeform series except for the shared source material) was directed by Floria Sigismondi from a screenplay by Chad Hayes, Carey Hayes, and Jade Bartlett. It stars Mackenzie Davis, Finn Wolfhard, Joely Richardson, and Brooklynn Prince. That film is scheduled to come out on February 22nd.

Coming from Sony Pictures Television and Alexandra McNally and Josh Berman of Osprey Productions, Freeform's Turn of the Screw reimagines the story for modern times, turning it into a "twisty Gothic soap" that will follow 

Elena, a Mexican-American nanny who is hired to care for the two children of a widowed-father at their summer home on idyllic Bainbridge Island. It seems like the perfect job with potential for a ‘happily ever after’ ending, but things take a sinister turn when Elena begins seeing ghosts and her grip on what is real and what is not blurs.

McNally is writing the pilot script and will be executive producing the show with Berman and Chris King, Osprey's Head of Development & Production.

Why is there still so much interest in bringing James' story to the screen? Berman explains: 

The Turn of the Screw is one of the scariest novels of all time. Yet the themes are as relevant today as they were more than a century ago."

The most famous adaptation of The Turn of the Screw up to this point has been the 1961 film THE INNOCENTS (pictured above). That's really the only adaptation I've ever felt the need to watch, but I'm open to giving others a chance.