Lifetime Planning ‘Flowers In The Attic’ Sequel [Video]
Lifetime is already planning a sequel to Flowers in the Attic only a week before the TV adaptation premieres.
Executive vice president and general manager of Lifetime Rob Sharenow made the announcement during the winter Television Critics Association press tour Thursday afternoon.
Based on V.C. Andrews’ 1979 novel of the same name, Flowers in the Attic revolves around the four Dollanganger siblings, who are forced to hide away in the attic of their grandparents’ mansion after their father dies. Their mother, Corinne, tells them that they have to hide until their grandfather dies so she can collect an inheritance. After Corinne’s visits become more and more infrequent, the siblings eventually become closer and completely dependent on one another. The novel sold over 40 million copies worldwide.
The Lifetime adaptation stars Heather Graham, Ellen Burstyn, Kiernan Shipka, Mason Dye, and Dylan Bruce. A film adaptation, starring Louise Fletcher, Victoria Tennant, Kristy Swanson, and Jeb Stuart Adams, was released in 1987. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics, but made over $15 million at the US box office.
Producer Meredith Finn said that, unlike the 1987 film, the Lifetime remake of Flowers in the Attic will remain more true to the novel, especially in keeping the controversial incest storyline intact.
Screenwriter Kayla Albert has already started writing the sequel, which she said will take place about 10 years after the events of Flowers in the Attic.
“It is a very juicy, compelling revenge drama,” she said. She also said that Lifetime was “very supportive of staying true to the material,” but that it was more fun to be less explicit with the book’s controversial themes.
“I think just like in the novel, the teasing out of some of the violence and sexuality, it’s almost more fun to imply it than to show it,” Alpert said. “So I tried to keep true to that in the screenplay.”
V.C. Andrews wrote four more books in the Dollanganger series: Petals on the Wind, If There Be Thorns, Seeds of Yesterday, and Garden of Shadows. An adaptation of Petals on the Wind was planned but never happened.
Flowers in the Attic premieres January 18 on Lifetime. Check out the extended trailer below.
