Shared universes are apparently no longer restricted to Marvel and DC blockbusters, at least that’s the notion that streaming service Hulu is embracing with its ambitious plans for TV series adaptation of multiple John Grisham novels. That’s right, folks, a live-action franchise called The John Grisham Universe is now officially a thing.
Hulu has announced that John Grisham novels in 1995’s The Rainmaker and 2015’s Rogue Lawyer will get the small screen serial treatment, wielding unconventional plans to not only have the two shows connected continuity-wise, but adhere to a format that accommodates watching the episodes out of order, or, as the service’s statement puts it, either “vertically” or “horizontally.” The two series will be planned in a writer’s room simultaneously, with an initial benchmark of producing eight scripts for each show.
The shows will enter development from ABC Signature and Seitzman and Christina Davis’s ABC Studios-based Maniac Productions. For this initial duo of Grishamverse legal drama shows, streamer Hulu has tapped the creative coalition of writers Michael Seitzman (Quantico, Code Black), Jason Richman (Mercy Street, Detroit 1-8-7) and author Grisham himself, who, having given his blessing, will have his say in the adaptation process as executive producer, joined in that capacity by the Seitzman/Richman duo and Davis.
Of course, several of Grisham’s novels have been adapted for the big screen, some more successful than others, most notably, the 1993 Tom Cruise-starring legal drama, The Firm, along with The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Time to Kill, The Chamber, A Painted House and Skipping Christmas (not counting Netflix’s new Grisham docuseries, The Innocent Man). However, film buffs will remember The Rainmaker from director Francis Ford Coppola’s 1997 movie adaptation (pictured in the title image) in which Matt Damon starred as a recent law school grad who – joined by a shady partner played by Danny DeVito – attempts to do benevolent legal work to help a leukemia patient whose insurance company unscrupulously denied treatment.
The Rogue Lawyer, which will get its first live-action adaptation, centers on the exploits of a street-based solicitor who practices in the seedy side of the city out of the back of a black bulletproof van, joined only by a heavily-armed driver. However, Hulu’s aforementioned non-linear TV plans will see the story of the two Grisham adaptations directly intertwined, sharing a murder mystery that will be connected to a larger conspiracy (its own proverbial Infinity Gauntlet-seeking Thanos, if you will), making the manner in which these shows are binged subjective one’s own tastes. Of course, the infrastructure of Hulu’s John Grisham Universe are planned to be built organically and expand at a careful rate.
It will be interesting to see if the seemingly incompatible concepts of “John Grisham” and “Universe” will translate into something that’s palatable in the peak television era.