Starz Rescues ‘Three Women’ Series with Shailene Woodley After Showtime Dumps It
Days after Showtime cut bait on the already completed series “Three Women” starring Shailene Woodley, Starz has swooped in to acquire and rescue the show, as first reported in THR. However, an individual with knowledge told IndieWire that negotiations for the rights to the show were still underway.
THR also reported that “Three Women,” which is based on the book by Lisa Taddeo, was also shopped to HBO and Amazon before it landed at Starz.
Starz had no comment.
Though it’s already finished principal production, Showtime followed a trend that began with “Batgirl,” in which streamers and networks cut their losses and take tax write-offs for already completed or in-the-works projects. Should a deal close, “Three Women” would add to Starz’s previously rescuing the upcoming second season of “Minx,” which first premiered on HBO last year. That show was produced by Starz’s parent company, Lionsgate TV.
Woodley stars in “Three Women” alongside DeWanda Wise, Betty Gilpin, Gabrielle Creevy, Blair Underwood, and John Patrick Amedori. Taddeo adapted her book of the same name and is also an executive producer on the show. Laura Eason serves as showrunner and executive producer, and Kathy Ciric and Emmy Rossum also executive produce. Louise Friedberg (“Y: The Last Man,” “Borgen”) directed the first two episodes of the series.
The show follows “three women on a crash course to radically overturn their lives,” according to the official synopsis. Woodley plays a writer who persuades the three women to tell their stories, and the show explores how her relationship with them changes the course of her own life.
Showtime originally acquired “Three Women” in a bidding war in 2019 and had developed the project, but that was under the leadership of David Nevins, who gave the show a direct-to-series order and intended a 2022 release date. Showtime is now being melded with Paramount+, and with new Showtime head Chris McCarthy in charge, Showtime is leaning more toward franchises, taking the “Yellowstone” approach to universe building and even developing “Billions” spin-offs and a prequel to “Dexter.” As a result, Showtime also canceled two other series, “Let the Right One In” and “American Gigolo.” And Paramount+ subsequently scrapped work on a movie based on Comedy Central’s “Workaholics” series shortly before it was meant to kick off production.