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Oh Really?

Reese Witherspoon Is Producing A Genderswapped Great Expectations For The CW

by Jill Pantozzi | 12:30 pm, October 9th, 2012


Pip is a girl! Pip is a girl! 

It will be simply be called Expectations and is a modern telling of the classic Charles Dickens tale. There’s just one big difference, the orphan protagonist will be a lady.

“The CW’s version of the literary classic, first published in serial form in the late 1860s, revolves around a small-town girl with big dreams of making it in the city who is quickly disillusioned by the harsh reality of living in San Francisco — that is, until her fortunes unexpectedly turn thanks to an anonymous benefactor,” writes The Hollywood Reporter. “Lethal Weapon 4 co-producer Mills Goodloe, who is adapting Nicholas Sparks‘ The Best of Me for the big screen, is on board to write and executive produce the hourlong drama with Reese Witherspoon executive producing through her Pacific Standard shingle.”

Interesting. Very, very interesting.

The original story has Pip supported by a mysterious benefactor and toyed with by the wealthy Miss Havisham, a controlling woman who projects her own issues onto Pip and her adopted daughter Estella. Will all the roles be swapped? It would be interesting if Estella was a fella but it would be even more interesting if she wasn’t.

The CW is also currently working on an updated Alice In Wonderland story where Alice is a police detective. Meanwhile, there’s also a new film version of Great Expecations, starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes, hitting theaters soon.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)

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  • http://www.retrorabbithole.blogspot.com/ Tina

    Interesting. I’d be interested to see if Expectations turns into a cross between Sex in the City with a dysfunctional relationship a la Carrie/Big (or a sort of Gossip Girl Blair/Whats-his-name). I’m disappointed that the Alice in Wonderland remake just *has* to re-imagine Alice as a cop… I’m so over cop shows and probably won’t watch as a result.

  • http://www.commonplacebook.com electrasteph

    The “Alice as Police detective” really makes me think that TV writers are mining fanfiction.net for ideas.

  • http://twitter.com/XandraDust Alexis the Unicorn

    I’ll definitely check it out if the whole thing is gender swapped, because a male Havisham and Estella would be really interesting. I’ve never thought about it before, but its actually pretty easy to see a male version of them.

  • http://www.facebook.com/laura.truxillo Laura Truxillo

    I’d kind of love to see a Mr. Havisham.

  • apurple234

    And there was a version with Gillian Anderson not that long ago on Masterpiece Classic.

  • Delaurentum

    Knowing the CW, there’s really a 50/50 chance of Estella remaining female (they’ve been testing out more POC characters and QUILTBAG characters, even if only as guest stars in other shows). Yet I doubt Estella will remain a woman because the CW wants more male viewers and an all female majority cast would seem antithetical to that desire…I also have reservations about the portrayal of a lesbian affair as totally unhealthy and manipulative. That’s all well and good when you have hundreds of positive portrayals, but those are few and far between, especially for lesbians, in mainstream pop culture.

  • Anonymous

    If they make Estella a guy, I have big concerns. “Here girl-Pip, fall for the abusive a-hole who you know is a jerk and says repeatedly that he can never love you, but he’s good looking so keep hoping he’ll change!” Yeeeeah.

  • Frank Tricker

    I think people are making more of that dui than they should .

    17 million admit it 1.5 million are arrested http://zautos.com/dui-fast-facts/ and she was not even driving. Her biggest mistake was getting in the car with a drunk.

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