Apple has won a bidding war for Margo’s Got Money Troubles.
The streamer has handed out an eight-episode, straight-to-series order for the drama from David E. Kelley that comes with Elle Fanning and Nicole Kidman attached to star. Margo is based on the forthcoming novel by Rufi Thorpe that landed with producers A24 after a bidding war in October for rights to the book. Kidman, Fanning — who will star as Margo — and her sister, Dakota Fanning, will also exec produce the series alongside Kelley, who serves as showrunner and reunites with the streamer following the upcoming Presumed Innocent (which he exec produces alongside J.J. Abrams).
As The Hollywood Reporter exclusively revealed in October, Margo’s Got Money Trouble had more than a dozen companies competing for the rights to the book about controlling your own narrative. Set for publication in June via HarperCollins imprint William Morrow, it revolves around Margo Millet, the daughter of a Hooters waitress and former pro wrestler who, after having an affair with her junior college English professor, gets pregnant and turns to OnlyFans to make ends meet. After reuniting with her estranged father, who imparts advice he learned in the wrestling ring, Margo becomes a runaway success on OnlyFans.
David E. Kelley Productions’ Matthew Tinker; Lewellen Pictures’ Elle Fanning, Dakota Fanning and Brittany Kahan Ward; and Blossom Films’ Kidman and Per Saari will exec produce alongside author Thorpe for A24. Margo joins an already prolific A24 slate that also includes HBO’s Euphoria, Netflix’s Emmy-winning Beef and upcoming series The Sympathizer, starring Robert Downey Jr. for HBO, and The Curse, fronted by Emma Stone, Nathan Fielder and Benny Safdie, at Showtime. On the film side, A24 was behind this year’s Oscar winner, Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Kidman and Kelley have previously teamed on such TV series as Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers, Max’s Love and Death, HBO’s Big Little Lies and The Undoing. Lewellen Pictures’ credits include producing Hulu’s The Great, which starred Elle Fanning, as well as The Girl From Plainville.
Margo becomes the latest star-studded series to join Apple’s slate of originals that also includes Shrinking, For All Mankind, Loot, Masters of the Air, The Morning Show, Mythic Quest, Pachinko, Severance and Slow Horses, among several others.
For Kelley, Margo joins a rapidly growing slate that also includes Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer and A Man in Full, season two of Hulu’s Nine Perfect Strangers and a possible third season of HBO’s Big Little Lies.