HBO Max Picks Up Two Sexy Literary Gothic Series from the Creator of ‘Riverdale’

mary shelley hbo max

The sexiest new property in the streaming wars is: books! Or at least, the women behind them, per HBO Max’s newest original series from Riverdale and Chilling Adventures of Sabrina creator Robert Aguirre-Sacasa. Aguirre-Sacasa is developing two sexy Gothic literary series for HBO Max, the first of which offers the sexy Mary Shelley take to compete with Apple’s upcoming sexy Emily Dickinson series. And knowing what Aguirre-Sacasa has cooked up with his Riverdale extended universe, it will all be very, very sexy.

Deadline reports that Aguirre-Sacasa is developing two literary series for HBO Max. The first is The Shelley Society, which follows a young Mary Shelley as she battles supernatural threats and monsters; while the second is the Dracula-inspired family drama The Brides, which reimagines the bewitching Brides of Dracula as a trio of “powerful, diverse female leads.” Both will hail from the Gothic horror genre and be terribly, terribly sexy.

Co-created by Aguirre-Sacasa, who writes and executive produces alongside Riverdale writers Tessa Leigh Williams and James DeWille, The Shelley Society is described as “Victorian X-Files.” In this twist on the literary legend, Mary Shelley is a leader of a “band of Romantic outlaws—among them, her lovers Percy and Lord Byron—against all manner of supernatural threats and monsters…including Frankenstein author Shelley’s own iconic Creature.” It certainly sounds like even more of a departure than the anachronistic Hailee Steinfeld-starring Dickinson, but anything will be an improvement over the dull and lifeless 2017 biopic Mary Shelley starring Elle Fanning.

While Aguirre-Sacasa is set to act as showrunner for The Shelley Society, the producer is keeping busy with a second HBO Max show, The Brides, which is produced with Berlanti Productions. The Brides adds a soapy twist to the iconic vampire “sisters” who seduce and bewitch men into Dracula’s castle, following the trio of “empowered, immortal women and the things they do to maintain wealth, prestige, legacy—and their non-traditional family.” Aguirre-Sacasa has been long trying to bring The Brides to life, first developing the series for NBC during the 2015-2016 TV season. The newest incarnation will lean “stronger into horror and sexuality,” says Deadline.

Aguirre-Sacasa already pushes boundaries, both in depictions of teen sexuality and of rational plot occurrences in network shows like Riverdale and Katy Keene. On Netflix, The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina is alarmingly bloody for a series aimed at teens. Who knows what he’ll get up to on HBO Max?

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