The graphic novel Squad won’t be published by Greenwillow until this fall, but Picturestart has already come out the winner of an eight-way bidding war over the film and television rights. Now the company is teaming with Lionsgate Television to bring the story to the small screen, planning to develop, produce, and co-finance a series adaptation.
Written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and illustrated by Lisa Sterle, the Squad graphic novel is said to have “tones of Promising Young Woman and Jennifer’s Body” as it “explores the boundaries of villainy and accountability and centers on a queer woman of color”. The story is about
Becca, a new girl in school who realizes that the girls in the popular clique are not just girls but also werewolves that feast on budding sexual predators. Since she now knows their secret, the young woman is faced with a decision: join the pack or else, wrestling her sense of morality and asking herself just who are the real monsters?
Tokuda-Hall and Sterle are both on board to executive produce the Squad TV series. Courtney Mock and Claire Wendlandt are overseeing the project for Lionsgate TV.
Tokuda-Hall is an independent bookseller turned author whose previous works include Also an Octopus and The Mermaid, the Witch, and the Sea. Sterle was the illustrator / creator of the Modern Witch Tarot Deck, co-created the comics Witchblood, Submerged, and Long Lost, and has worked on projects for DC, IDW, Boom! Studios, Penguin Random House, and HarperCollins.
I still need to watch Promising Young Woman, but as a big fan of both Jennifer’s Body and the teenage girl werewolf movie Ginger Snaps (not to mention Teeth, which would fit in fine with those two for a triple feature), I do like the sound of Squad. I’ll be watching for updates as the TV series adaptation moves forward.