The CW has found recent success in re-imagining classic characters from the past in new, darker iterations. It worked especially well for Riverdale, which took the classic Archie characters from their comic form to teens dealing with serial killers and organ-harvesting death cults. Next on their plate is Nancy Drew, the teen detective from YA novels of yore, who is getting her own neon-hued TV series on the network.
The first trailer dropped today, and though it’s looking pretty derivative, we can’t say we aren’t intrigued. This thing looks like a lot of fun.
We immediately get Riverdale vibes, with its color scheme and especially with its central restaurant, The Claw. The design is almost exactly like Pop’s on that other CW show. The small-town waitress with a side life is also reminiscent of True Blood, and the girl detective plot brings Veronica Mars to mind.
But Nancy Drew is also cooking up an identity of its own, with a horror subplot about the ghost of a local pageant queen. She’s haunting the town and is possibly responsible for the murder Nancy (Kennedy McMann) and her friends find themselves trying to solve. This also isn’t a high school show; the story takes place the summer after Nancy’s graduation, which gives it a slightly more mature edge.
Then again, it’s still definitely got a Riverdale edge when you consider the casting of the adults. Just like that show cast former teen stars in the grown-up roles, so too is Nancy Drew. Party of Five alum Scott Wolf plays Nancy’s dad, while Riley Smith—who guest-starred on teen series like 7th Heaven, Freaks and Geeks and led the Disney Channel original movie Motocrossed—is playing the husband of the murder victim.
Luckily, there’s enough going on here that it should avoid too many comparisons. We love what The CW is doing by updating all of these classics for a new generation, so we’ll definitely be tuning into Nancy Drew when it debuts this fall.
Images: The CW