Almost twenty years after “The Firm” was first released as a novel and a hit film, John Grisham is bringing his best selling book to television.
Deadline is reporting that eOne Television and SPT networks have ordered a TV adaptation of “The Firm” with a first season of 22 episodes. The series already has international distribution lined up through Sony’s AXN networks and the producers are reportedly in talks with NBC for domestic broadcast rights.
Back in 1993, Tom Cruise starred as a young lawyer named Mitch McDeere in director Sidney Pollack’s feature film adaptation of “The Firm;” which became the first of many Grisham novels to make it to the big screen. More recently, screenwriter Lucas Reiter previously attempted to adapt “The Firm” for CBS, but the project didn’t go forward there. The current incarnation was a new version written by Reiter with involvement from Grisham himself.
“The Firm” will take place ten years after the film and picks up with Mitch and his family coming out of the FBI witness protection program after helping to bring down a prestigious law firm in Memphis that was being used as a front by the mob. However, the mob apparently has a long memory about betrayal and Mitch soon finds that his enemies have multiplied in the intervening years.
“John Grisham’s the best, he’s a brilliant storyteller and a great partner,” said Reiter. “As a writer and a lawyer, I’ve always been a huge fan, so it’s beyond cool to be collaborating with him on this series.”
Reiter and Grisham will both be executive producers on the new series, alongside John Morayniss, Michael Rosenberg and Noreen Halpern from eOne. Grisham’s prior experience on TV was a one season adaptation of “The Client” and a pilot for “The Street Lawyer.”
“The Firm” is expected to begin production in July and casting is currently underway.
