In 2016, a sci-fi novel came along that caused the world to rumble with excitement – it was The Power by Naomi Alderman, a modern dystopia asking one simple, electric question: what if women could shoot lightning from their fingertips? Of course, it's more complicated than that (with great power... you know the rest), and so unfolds a militant story of uprising and terrifying gender dynamics born out of chaos. The book, a worldwide bestseller, is now being brought to the small screen courtesy of Amazon Studios, to resurrect and dig deeper into the drama.
Alderman will be adapting the novel into a screenplay herself, alongside an all-female writing team including Claire Wilson (The Little Drummer Girl) and Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen). The show will be helmed by Reed Morano as director and executive producer of the episodes. Following her work on The Handmaid's Tale, where she served as an executive producer and director of the first three episodes, it looks like The Power is very much within Morano's wheelhouse.
In terms of the mechanics of the show itself, the story is split across a handful of characters – Allie, an American foster child; Roxy, the daughter of a London crime boss; Tunde, a Nigerian journalist; Margot Cleary-Lopez, the mayor of Seattle. It's this last character that has already been cast: Leslie Mann (Blockers, This is 40) will be playing the unpredictable politician.
There's no word yet on production or release dates for The Power, but with such a stronghold in place already, the series seems to be cooking up a future it would be awfully foolish to ignore.