HBO is developing a series adaptation of the Claire Lombardo novel “The Most Fun We Ever Had” with Amy Adams and Laura Dern onboard as executive producers.
Described as a multigenerational saga spanning half a century, the story follows four sisters, each struggling to exist in the shadow of their parents’ idyllic marriage, whose lives are complicated by the unexpected return of the son one of them gave up for adoption fifteen years earlier.
Lombardo will pen the adaptation in addition to co-executive producing. Adams and Stacy O’Neil will executive produce under their Bond Group Entertainment banner, with Bond Group’s Kate Clifford co-producing. Dern and Jayme Lemons will executive produce via Jaywalker Pictures. Anya Epstein is onboard as showrunner. The Gotham Group’s Rich Green negotiated the deal on behalf of Ellen Levine and Alexa Stark at Trident Media Group.
Both Dern and Adams have found success with similar stories on HBO in the past few years. Dern won an Emmy for the her role in the first season of “Big Little Lies” along with a Golden Globe for the second season. She also picked up an Emmy and Golden Globe nomination for starring in the HBO film “The Tale.” Adams, meanwhile, earned an Emmy and a Golden Globe nomination for her starring role in the HBO limited series “Sharp Objects” in addition to another Emmy nomination for best limited series as a producer on “Sharp Objects.” Both the first season of “Big Little Lies” and “Sharp Objects” were based on novels by female authors, while the second season of “Big Little Lies” was based on an original story by “Big Little Lies” author Liane Moriarty.
Adams and Epstein are also currently working on a series adaptation of the Barbara Kingsolver novel “The Poisonwood Bible” at HBO as part of Adams’ first-look deal with the network. It was announced last year that Dern is set to star in and executive produce the limited series “The Dolls” alongside Issa Rae at the premium cabler.
“The Most Fun We Ever Had,” Lombardo’s debut novel, was first published back in June and became a New York Times bestseller. Her short fiction has appeared in Barrelhouse Magazine, Little Fiction, and Longform, among others. Her short story, “I Only Want to Talk About the Nice Things,” was one of 2016’s Best of the Net, and was number one on Longform’s 2015 fiction list.
Adams is repped by WME, Brillstein Entertainment Partners, and Sloane Offer, while Bond Group is repped by WME and Sloane Offer. Dern and Jaywalker are repped by CAA while Dern is also repped by Untitled Entertainment.