Amazon Orders ‘The Power’ Series from ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Director Reed Morano

Naomi Alderman‘s best-selling sci-fi novel The Power has become an international sensation translated into over 35 languages, and soon it will become a television series.

Amazon Studios has announced a TV adaptation from The Handmaid’s Tale director and executive producer Reed Morano with Leslie Mann (This Is 40, The Other Woman) taking one of the lead roles. And even more exciting is Naomi Alderman is adapting the book for the screen herself with a team of all-female writers.

Amazon sent out a press release announcing The Power TV series with this detailed synopsis of the story:

The world of The Power is our world, but for one twist of nature. Suddenly, and without warning, all teenage girls in the world develop the power to electrocute people at will. It’s hereditary, it’s inbuilt, and it can’t be taken away from them. Coming alive to the thrill of pure power: the ability to hurt or even kill by releasing electrical jolts from their fingertips, they rapidly learn they can awaken the Power in older women. Soon enough nearly every woman in the world can do it. And then everything is different.

The subversive, multi-stranded narrative follows a series of characters including  Allie, a vulnerable American foster kid who reinvents herself as a faith leader;  Roxy, the daughter of a London crime boss, who revels in her new abilities; Tunde, a Nigerian journalist reporting on seismic global change; and Margot Cleary – Lopez (Leslie Mann), Mayor of Seattle, loving wife and doting mother to three kids. At least that’s what her official campaign website would tell you.

Margot is an American politician on the rise and until now, not only a woman in a man’s world, but one with a questionable taste in jackets according to online trolls. Vital, charming and incredibly smart, Margot comes to see that power resides with strength rather than authority. As her career takes flight, it’s her husband Rob and daughter Jos who privately feel the effects of her success most keenly; for one of them, where previously there was conflict now comes a greater understanding, and for the other where there was love, comes hurt and betrayal.

Over the first season, the series will follow its cast of remarkable characters from London to Seattle, Nigeria to Moldova, as the ‘Power’ evolves from a tingle in teenagers’ collarbones to a complete reversal of the power balance of the world. The Day of the Girls has arrived – but where will it end?

That sounds like a fascinating world for Reed Morano to play in, especially after working on a series that is all about oppressing women (even if there is revolution brewing in it). Would men be so inclined to think they can take advantage of a woman in any capacity if they knew they could be electrocuted by them at any moment? Would women abuse their newfound power as men have so consistently done throughout history? There are endless ways this development would change the world in a staggering way, and this series will likely make the patriarchy shake their heads and rolls their eyes. So it’s great to hear that a female staff of writers and executive producers is involved in bringing it to life.

Along with Morano in place as director and executive producer and Alderman writing, Claire Wilson (Little Drummer Girl) is writing and executive producing, Sarah Quintell (The Trial: A Murder in the Family) is serving as co-executive producer and story consultant, and Whit Anderson (Ozark), Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen) and novelist Rebecca Levene (The Hollow Gods Trilogy) are all serving as writers. Sister Pictures (Chernobyl) will produce the series along with Tim Bricknell (Trust, Taboo), and Jane Featherstone (Chernobyl), Naomi de Pear (Don’t Forget the Driver) are also on board as executive producers.

It’s not clear when The Power will go into production or debut on Amazon Prime, but we’ll keep you posted.

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