One of V.E. Schwab’s YA novels is headed to television. Variety reports that ABC Signature and Searchlight Television are developing a series based on her 2018 middle grade novel City of Ghosts, about a teenage girl who begins to see ghosts after drowning.
The book is the first part of a trilogy from Schwab—it’s followed by Tunnel of Bones, and the just-released Bridge of Souls. The series follows Cass after she nearly died, who can now see beyond the veil and the ghosts that exist alongside the living. When she accompanies her parents (who conveniently host a TV series about paranormal places) to Scotland, she meets a young woman who also shares her abilities, and is forced to learn more about the dangers that her abilities bring. The followup books bring Cass to Paris and then to New Orleans.
This adaptation will be written by David Lowery (The Green Knight and A Ghost Story) and Sehaj Sethi (Two Sentence Horror Stories), with Lowery set to direct.
This isn’t the first attempt at an adaptation of the novel. Back in 2018, Pretty Little Liars‘ Marlene King and The Following‘s Lauren Wagner developing a potential series for The CW, although that doesn’t seem to have made it out of the development phase. Netflix also debuted a kids animated series by the same title, but that doesn’t seem to be related to Schwab’s book.
The project is also the latest of Schwab’s to head to television. Back in October, word broke that Netflix had ordered an adaptation of her short story “First Kill”, a YA lesbian vampire story, and earlier this week, cast Sarah Catherine Hook (from Monsterland) and Imani Lewis (Vampires Vs. the Bronx) as its two leads.
There’s no timeline for when the series will make it to air (provided it makes its way through the development process).
