It’s official: AnnaSophia Robb will star in the CW’s adaption of The Carrie Diaries. The television series, coming this fall, will be based on Candace Bushnell’s prequel novel to the Sex and the City series. The show will focus on Carrie Bradshaw’s high school years.
Actress AnnaSophia Robb, 18, is best known for her roles as Violet in Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and as shark attack survivor Bethany Hamilton in the 2011 movie Soul Surfer.
Sex and the City fans will be happy to hear that the former writer and co-producer of the original show, Amy B. Harris, has signed on to adapt the young-adult novel and write for the new show.
The young-adult novel chronicles Carrie’s high school years in the 1980s in a small town in New England. It deals with love, sex, friendship and family. The show will be aimed at a younger audience than HBO’s Sex and the City was.
Although HBO owns the rights to Sex and the City, it will work with corporate cousin CW and allow the writers of The Carrie Diaries to incorporate characters, traits and developments of Sex and the City into the new series.
The big question now is whether The Carrie Diaries will turn Robb into as big of a star as Sex and the City made Sarah Jessica Parker. Parker won an Emmy and four Golden Globes for her turn as Carrie. Parker earned $3.2 million per episode by the third season of the show, which also turned her into a fashion icon and household name.
Past teen shows that took place during the 1980s, such as the short-lived Gossip Girl prequel series, have struggled to find success. But maybe The Carrie Diaries, with its beloved title character and endearing supporting cast, will be the show to watch. We’ll just have to tune in this fall to find out!