‘Misfits’ Gets Plans For a US Remake

(Written for BritScene)

The British BAFTA winning show, Misfits, has finalised rights to a US remake this month, with plans to begin pitching to American networks.

The project will be overseen by Gossip Girl co-creator and producer Josh Schwartz, alongside partner Stephanie Savage in his Fake Empire production company. Schwartz will start working on a US adaptation of the script with writer of the UK series, Howard Overman, who will take the role of executive producer.

Misfits first aired in the UK on E4 in November 2009. The science fiction comedy-drama follows a group of five teenagers in London, each with a contrasting and stereotypical personality, who meet during community service. When the group get struck by a flash storm, they find themselves with individual, supernatural powers.

Chavvy Kelly (Lauren Socha) can hear people’s thoughts, sporty Curtis (Nathan Stewart Jarrett) has the ability to turn back time when he regrets something, party girl Alisha (Antonia Thomas) can send people into a sexual frenzy when they touch her skin, socially awkward Simon (Iwan Rheon) can make himself invisible, and then there is Nathan (Robert Sheehan), the joker of the group full of sexual innuendos ready for any situation, who doesn’t discover his power until later on.

The UK series surprised its audience, widely being recognised as an original and creative take on the superhero genre. Whilst Misfits is not well-known in the states yet, it has started to gain a strong internet presence with several full-length episodes streaming on Hulu.

With the huge downfall of the US version of Skins, which was dropped after one season by MTV earlier this year, Overman admitted that he was unsure how Misfits would translate to America. Executive producer of the UK series, Murray Ferguson, however, said that this hasn’t worried him.

For more information about the UK Misfits, you can also read our previous posts about the new trailer for series three, which will air on 30th October, and a one-off special clip, ‘Vegas Baby’.