Family feuds are big business now, thanks to the success of History’s “Hatfields & McCoys” miniseries.
NBC has snapped up Charlize Theron’s modern-day series based on the famed 19th century Appalachian fighting families, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The series will update the setting to a contemporary city, with the Hatfields being wealthy and powerful, while the McCoys are strictly working-class, according to deadline.com.
Theron is said to be attached to the project as a producer. The series comes from her company, Denver and Delilah Productions, which recently sold the drama “Mind Hunter,” based on the book about hunting serial killers and co-developed with David Fincher, to HBO.
(The series is currently in development there.) The new series comes hot on the heels of History’s blockbuster ratings for its “Hatfields & McCoys” miniseries.
The three-part show, which premiered Memorial Day and starred Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton, averaged nearly 14 million viewers, making it the most-watched cable drama series — ever.
But the conception of Theron’s series is said to have pre-dated the airdate of History’s miniseries, which co-starred Mare Winningham and Powers Boothe.
Western-themed shows are among TV’s hottest trends right now.
TNT recently premiered “Longmire,” based on Craig Johnson’s best-selling Western crime novels set in Wyoming. And, this fall, CBS will air “Vegas,” a ’60s-era series that’s based on the real-life cowboy-turned-Las Vegas sheriff Ralph Lamb, played by Dennis Quaid.