The Diverse Adaptation of We Were Liars: A Collaborative TV Series with a Twist
In 2014, E. Lockhart captivated young adult readers with her novel We Were Liars, a haunting and twist-filled tale about a wealthy family that spends their summers on a private island. The book centers around Cadence Sinclair Eastman, a teenage girl struggling to remember the events of a traumatic summer that left her with memory loss, chronic migraines, and a sense of something deeply wrong.
Now, more than 10 years after its initial release, the popular psychological family drama has been adapted into an 8-episode TV series, thanks to showrunners Julie Plec (The Vampire Diaries) and Carina Adly Mackenzie (Roswell, New Mexico). The world of The Liars was brought to life by series stars Emily Alyn Lind (Cadence), Shubham Maheshwari (Gat), Esther McGregor (Mirren), and Joseph Zada (Johnny).
In an interview with E. Lockhart, we learned more about the adaptation process and some of the behind-the-scenes details. Here are some key points:
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The Long Development Process: The book has been in development since its release in 2014. It was first for a feature film with five different writers and two different directors. It was then in development for TV at another streaming service that didn't end up going through. Finally, it landed with Julie Plec and Carina Mackenzie, who were relieved to have the opportunity to convey the core meaning of the book on television.
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Fleshing Out Secondary Characters: The novel is told from Cadence's first-person perspective, which is limited in scope. The show holds on to Cadence's perspective but also fleshes out stories of secondary characters and gives room to their perspectives, most importantly, the character of Gat. The Sinclair family is old money, white Democrats, while Gat and his Uncle Ed are middle-class New Yorkers of Indian descent. A diverse group of writers, including four writers of Indian descent, were brought in to flesh out the characters of Gat and Ed with more nuance and authenticity.
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Input from the Author: E. Lockhart was in a development room for 10 weeks before Plec went off to write the pilot. This was a room for conversations about what all the options were for making the book into a television show. Once that was done, Plec and Mackenzie created the real writer's room and wrote the show. E. Lockhart came in just to write and generate content.
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Constructing Storylines: The show constructed storylines for characters like Johnny's anger issues and almost killing someone that were not fully explored in the book. E. Lockhart had input on how these characters could be fleshed out while still staying true to the spirit of the book.
In conclusion, the TV adaptation of We Were Liars is a testament to the power of collaboration and diversity in storytelling. By bringing in a diverse group of writers and giving input from the author, the show was able to create a rich and nuanced portrayal of the characters and themes that made the original novel so compelling.
