‘Practical Magic’ Prequel Series Pilot Order for HBO Max Streaming Service

HBO Max ordered a new series as a prequel to the film Practical Magic called Rules of Magic, from Jessica Jones duo Melissa Rosenberg and Dana Baratta, according to The Wrap. The series is set in the 1960s and centers on the younger versions of Franny, Jet and Vincent Owens from the 1988 film.

Featuring Stockard Channing and Diane Weist as Franny and Jet, respectively, Practical Magic also starred Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman. HBO Max, the new streaming service service from WarnerMedia, has additionally ordered a writers’ room with a 10-script order. The project is set up at Warner Bros. Television with PatMa Productions’ Nina Tassler and Denise Di Nova as executive producers.

Additionally, HBO Max also ordered two other TV pilots: the Lena Dunham-produced Generation and the John Wells-produced Red Bird Lane.

Generation is co-written and co-directed by Zelda and Daniel Barnz, who directed the film Cake, and executive produced with Dunham and Daniel and Ben Barnz for We’re Not Brothers Productions. According to the description from HBO Max, the dark, playful half-hour dramedy series follows a group of high school students whose exploration of modern sexuality tests deeply entrenched beliefs about life, love and the nature of family in their conservative community.

Red Bird Lane, a psychological horror series, focuses on eight strangers who arrive at an isolated house, all for different reasons, and quickly realize something sinister and terrifying awaits them.

Last month, it was announced that Gossip Girl will receive a revival at HBO Max. The show will reportedly be a continuation of the show and is being created by original series writer and executive producer Joshua Safran, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. Deadline also revealed the longline for reboot: “Eight years after the original website went dark, a new generation of New York private school teens are introduced to the social surveillance of Gossip Girl. The prestige series will address just how much social media — and the landscape of New York itself — has changed in the intervening years.

HBO Max is expected to launch in spring 2020 and will include content from HBO, as well as a number of different programs from Warner Bros., New Line, DC Entertainment, CNN, TNT, TBS, truTV, The CW, Turner Classic Movies, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Crunchyroll, Rooster Teeth and Looney Tunes, as well as original films from producer Greg Berlanti and Reese Witherspoon.