Legendary Working On 'Wizard Of Oz' TV Series Set In The World Of L. Frank Baum's Books

There have been plenty of projects over the years inspired by the classic film The Wizard of Oz. Some have taken direct cues from the 1939 movie, while others put their own spin on the world created by author L. Frank Baum. Now Legendary Entertainment is doing the latter with a new TV series that will be set in the Land of Oz, but their hope is to introduce stories and characters who have yet to be brought to the screen. Find out more about this Wizard of Oz TV series below.

Variety reports Legendary Entertainment has hired Now You See Me and Jessica Jones scribe Ed Ricourt to write and produce the series, which doesn't yet have a home for distribution. Legendary also has Dmitri M. Johnson and Stephan Bugaj from dj2 Entertainment to executive produce, but they're still in the midst of finalizing a deal for a director.

Here's the basic logline for the new Wizard of Oz TV series:

When the return of a long-exiled Witch brings fear, division and war to Oz, the only hope is a servant girl who may become the most powerful and dangerous woman in the land.

The Wizard of Oz is one of the most well-known stories in all of cinema and literature. However, it's just one of an entire series of books that take place in the Land of Oz. In fact, there are 13 other books that L. Frank Baum wrote which could be used to drive the series, many introducing new characters like a walking wooden figure with a jack-o'-lantern head named Jack Pumpkinhead, a living sawhorse, and a wandering hobo called The Shaggy Man.

This isn't the first time the Land of Oz has been adapted for television, either. Most recently, NBC took a crack at it with a show called Emerald City. But it didn't really impress anyone, and the network canceled it after a single season. Otherwise, there have been tons of new movies, TV shows, animated series, books, and comics that have adapted The Wizard of Oz so many times that it's almost impossible not to know the basic story.

While the idea of a series set in the Land of Oz isn't immediately exciting to me, it's a relief that it's not going to retell the story of Dorothy and the wizard of Oz. But at the same time, since that's the one story everyone loves so much, maybe audiences won't be as interested either. We'll find out whenever we get our first glimpse at the series.