AMC Sets ‘Grapes of Wrath’ TV Series to Launch ‘Great American Stories’ Anthology Franchise

The initiative will adapt a new iconic American story each season The post AMC Sets ‘Grapes of Wrath’ TV Series to Launch ‘Great American Stories’ Anthology Franchise appeared first on TheWrap.

Apr 7, 2025 - 16:33

AMC Sets ‘Grapes of Wrath’ TV Series to Launch ‘Great American Stories’ Anthology Franchise

AMC is developing a new TV franchise called “Great American Stories,” which will kick off with a limited series adaptation of John Steinbeck’s classic novel “The Grapes of Wrath.” Rolin Jones (“Interview With the Vampire”) will adapt the book for this initial season and then oversee the franchise, with Mark Johnson — who oversees the Anne Rice Immortal Universe for the network — also onboard to help launch and manage “Great American Stories.” The show will roll out on AMC and AMC+.

Per AMC, each season of the anthology series will be devoted to a different celebrated work, historical moment or individual narrative celebrating and highlighting the American spirit.

“This is a very big swing for our studio president Dan McDermott. It’s a very serious, longterm commitment to actually tackling either a classic story or a classic moment in time and telling that story with incredible creators,” chief commercial officer Kim Kelleher told TheWrap. “It also feels very timely to talk about our incredible history as a country and to tell these stories and bring them to life in a fictionalized way. It’s important to get these stories out there and to have these moments immortalized.”

Published in 1939, “The Grapes of Wrath” is set during the Great Depression and follows a family who sets out for California from Oklahoma after struggling with drought and economic hardship. John Ford adapted the book in a 1940 film starring Henry Fonda, which won Ford the Best Director Oscar. Steven Spielberg previously flirted with adapting the book into a film in the 2010s.

“For more than a year, we have been searching for the perfect story to launch our next big television franchise and we found it in ‘The Grapes of Wrath,’ which is as timely and relevant today as it was when first published in 1939,” Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks, said in a statement. “Our country is built upon so many unforgettable historic and dramatic moments, tales of bravery and courage, classic novels, short stories and chronicles well-known and never-before-told. As a network that began its life as American Movie Classics, this is the franchise we’re destined to bring to the screen.”

“We’re thinking about Great American Stories like one of those resolute car factories in Michigan – bring in visionary creators, give them an assembly line of singular talent to build the thing, hand them the keys and get the hell out of the way,” Jones added. “This is Dan McDermott’s big, bold, torpedo bat swing at AMC. He’s hired me to roll a beauty off the factory floor every year. I hope to never have another job for the rest of my career.”

“Never have I felt more professional pressure than in accepting this challenge to help translate some legendary American stories to the television screen,” Johnson agreed. “What a terrifying opportunity!”

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