ABC is developing a drama series based on a Finnish format with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way Productions, Variety has learned.
The project is based on the original concept entitled “Black Widows” from Mikko Polla and Roope Lehtinen. The original series follows three wives and best friends trapped in abusive marriages to husbands who all work at the same company. When all three husbands die in a mysterious explosion during a group vacation, the wives are pulled into a spiral of lies and crime.
Caroline Dries will serve as writer and executive producer, with Jennifer Davisson executive producing on behalf of Appian Way. Polla and Lehtinen will also executive produce along with Crispin Leyser through their Fire Monkey Productions. It is based on an underlying format owned by Digital Rights Group and Moskito, with Jeremy Fox from Digital Rights Group also serving as an executive producer. Michael Hampton shepherded the project on behalf of Appian Way. Sony Pictures Television is the studio.
The project marks the first broadcast series to be developed at Appian Way. Previously, DiCaprio’s company has set up projects like a mafia drama set in the 1980s at Showtime and “The Right Stuff” at NatGeo, which chronicles the lives of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.
