Netflix Going All In On Jane Austen With 'The Netherfield Girls'

Netflix Going All In On Jane Austen With 'The Netherfield Girls'

Bridgerton's overwhelming popularity has already made waves in the television landscape, bringing regency romance to the forefront of streaming entertainment. Masterpiece PBS has revived Sanditon in its wake; Dakota Johnson is bidding to be taken seriously by playing Ann Eliott in a new version of Persuasion. Now Netflix is adding to the Jane Austen adaptation list with a contemporary Pride and Prejudice remake in the vein of Clueless for Emma, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries and others, with The Netherfield Girls, starring Maitreyi Ramakrishnan.

Pride and Prejudice is easily the most popular and well-known of Jane Austen's novels. The story has had a dozen officially named adaptations since 1938 and at least another dozen "rom-coms" that borrow heavily from the romantic aspects of the story. The Netherfield Girl promises to be a feast of references for the Janeite, starting with the film's name, an obvious reference to the novel's fictional estate, Netherfield Park. Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, who recently became one of Netflix's most recent teen breakout stars in Mindy Kaling's Never Have I Ever, will play Lizzie Bennet, though how much like her counterpart she is remains to be seen.

According to Variety, the movie is "a romantic comedy with literary pedigree" and described as "a fresh and contemporary take on Pride and Prejudice in the spirit of the Emma Stone teen comedy Easy A and 10 Things I Hate About You. Ramakrishnan will portray Lizzie Bennet, the protagonist of Jane Austen's classic novel who eventually discovers the man she thinks is Mr. Wrong is in fact, Mr. Right.