Back in March, we reported that Joe Wright's assassination thriller HANNA starring Saoirse Ronan, Eric Bana, and Cate Blanchett was being eyed for a television series adaptation. Today, we've learned that Amazon Studios has granted a straight-to-series order for HANNA from David Farr, who co-wrote the 2011 original film.
Farr, who recently adapted John Le Carre's THE NIGHT MANAGER for BBC/AMC, will pen the program alongside NBCUniversal’s International Studios’ L.A. scripted team, headed up by JoAnn Alfano, and Tomorrow ITV Studios’ Marty Adelstein, who produced the film, and Becky Clements.
If the plot for HANNA eludes your memory, allow me to present you with a brief refresher. HANNA is the action-adventure thriller that tells the tale of a young girl (Ronan) raised in the wilderness of northern Finland by her father (Bana), an ex-CIA operative, who molds the tenderfoot into a most deadly assassin. Here's the thing though, a senior CIA agent (Blanchett) is on their trail, and is looking to eliminate both Hanna and her dear old dad for good.
In commenting about the opportunity to expand upon the story of HANNA, Farr offered these words, "I am delighted to be able to return to the Hanna story. Joe Wright’s movie was dazzling but inevitably there were certain elements that a feature length film wasn’t able fully to explore. It’s a pleasure therefore to be able to revisit the material in a longer format and take Hanna into whole new physical and emotional worlds. Amazon have shown such passion for the project and is the perfect home for HANNA.”
President of NBCUniversal International Studios, Michael Edelstein, was also keen to share his thoughts on presenting the thriller when he said, "From the moment JoAnn Alfano and I saw Hanna it was evident that the film would make an incredible TV series. Fortunately, David Farr felt there was more Hanna story to tell and wanted to revisit this extraordinary world. We’re excited to be in business with David, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements who share our passion for this compelling story. The team at Amazon have been incredibly supportive and we are delighted this show will air on a platform that continues to generate exceptional content.”
As the show prepares to get up and moving, Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements will act as executive producers on the project in a partnership with Scott Nemes, and Alfano for NBCUniversal Int’l Studios, with Scott Herbst and Tom Coan serving as co-executive producers. Another cool aspect to this is that you can tell from the following quote that Adelstein is super pumped up to begin work on this project when you read that he said, “I am thrilled to be revisiting this fantastic story. Hanna is one of the highlights of my career, and I look forward to seeing this story continue with David Farr.”
This all sounds very cool to me. It's funny though, the last time I wrote about this film, I'd claimed that I had never seen it. As it would happen, that was a total lie. I simply didn't recall that I had watched it, a few years back. What can I say, sometimes my brain is a little fuzzy. I think that, in anticipation of this show coming about that I should give it another watch, if only to refresh my memory and prime myself for what's to come when HANNA comes to Amazon.
Meanwhile, you can watch the 2011 film version of HANNA right now, as the film is available on Digital, DVD, and Blu-Ray formats.