Riverdale Creator Delivering Mary Shelley TV Series Described as "Victorian X-Files"

Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa has proven himself a powerful force on the small screen, taking relatively tame franchises and reimagining them in compelling new ways, with Deadline confirming the producer is setting his sights on delivering all-new approaches to both author Mary Shelley and Dracula. While HBO Max has ordered a pilot for The Shelley Society, inspired by the works of the gothic author, the outlet notes that Aguirre-Sacasa is also developing a script for The Brides, a reported reimagining of the Brides of Dracula. The Brides doesn't currently have a home, though will likely be shopped to streaming or premium networks.

The Shelley Society is described, "Young author Mary Shelley leads a band of Romantic outlaws—among them, her lovers Percy and Lord Byron—against all manner of supernatural threats and monsters…including Frankenstein author Shelley's own iconic Creature." Deadline claims the tone of the project is meant to be a Victorian X-Files.

The outlet notes that The Brides is "a sexy, contemporary reimagining of the Dracula saga as a family drama with a trio of powerful, diverse female leads. With strong horror elements, The Brides is a vampire soap about empowered, immortal women and the things they do to maintain wealth, prestige, legacy—and their non-traditional family." This marks the second attempt at adapting the series, which the producer was previously developing back in 2015, with this new approach leaning "stronger into horror and sexuality as it reimagines the classic vampire characters."

Aguirre-Sacasa delivered audiences Riverdale in 2017, reimagining the narrative of the iconic Archie Comics locale, which quickly became a major hit with viewers. The producer continued to reimagine Archie properties with The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix, which leaned more heavily into Satan worship and sex of the teen witch than the Melissa Joan Hart-starring sitcom from the '90s.

The fourth season of Riverdale is currently airing on The CW while Season Three of Sabrina is currently in production. Despite spending some time in literal Hell, Aguirre-Sacasa previously teased that the new episodes will be a lot of fun.

"I think it's safe to say that we are going to Hell, yes," Aguirre-Sacasa revealed to TheWrap. "We're going to Hell. It's very fun. It's very fun. It's dangerous, but it's really fun."

Stay tuned for details on The Shelley Society and The Brides.

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