Lena Dunham and Heather Regnier Set Netflix Teen Ensemble Inspired by "The Elissas"
Post-9/11 Brooklyn. Private school kids left to figure themselves out - and each other.
You remember the feeling after September 11 - the quiet, the confusion, the way adults seemed distracted and kids were left to make sense of it themselves. That's the emotional center of a new teen ensemble drama in development at Netflix from Lena Dunham (movies and tv series) and Heather Regnier, inspired by Samantha Leach's book "The Elissas: Three Girls, One Fate, and the Deadly Secrets of Suburbia."
Here's what's on the table, according to folks familiar with the project: the series follows the days after 9/11 at Brooklyn's Remson Prep, where a group of private school teens collide, split, and try to figure out who they're going to be. Think classic high school drama energy, but grounded in a raw, early-2000s New York that wasn't looking at them - so they made their own rules.
Dunham created the project and will co-showrun and executive produce with Regnier. Netflix and Universal declined to comment, which usually means it's still early - but the package is real and moving.
The source material is heavy. Leach's 2023 book, published by Legacy Lit (an imprint of Hachette), follows three suburban girls who met at a boarding school for "troubled" teens. Eight years later, all three were dead. The show isn't a straight retelling, but it pulls from that emotional truth: how girls survive, and what the world lets happen to them.
On the production side, Dunham is producing through her company Good Thing Going. Working Title Television and Universal International Studios (part of Universal Studio Group) are on board, with Tim Bevan (movies and tv series), Eric Fellner (movies and tv series), and Katy Rozelle executive producing. Samantha Leach is also set as an EP - always a good sign when the author's at the table.
- Creators/Showrunners: Lena Dunham, Heather Regnier
- Studios: Working Title Television, Universal International Studios
- EPs: Lena Dunham, Heather Regnier, Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Katy Rozelle, Michael Cohen (movies and tv series), Samantha Leach
- Producer: Blake Mars
If you're tracking Dunham's slate, she recently returned to TV with the Netflix rom-com Too Much, co-created with her husband, Luis Felber. She also wrapped the Netflix feature Good Sex, starring Natalie Portman (movies and tv series) and Mark Ruffalo (movies and tv series), and is making her Broadway creative debut with 10 Things I Hate About You: The Broadway Musical.
And of course, there's Girls - eight Emmy nominations, two Golden Globes, and a bit of history as the first woman to win the DGA Award for Best TV Comedy Director. She's repped by CAA and Michael P. Cohen, who also serves as president of Good Thing Going.
Regnier's a veteran of character-forward genre and comedy-drama hybrids - Human Target, Falling Skies, Sleepy Hollow, iZombie, SMILF, and Veronica Mars. She's repped by UTA and HJTH.
Here's why this could matter for your slate planning: teen ensemble dramas keep pulling viewers when they feel specific and lived-in. Setting it in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 gives the show a clear identity - a city on edge, parents stretched thin, kids searching for power and self-determination. If the tone lands, it could sit comfortably next to the more grounded end of YA while appealing to older millennials who actually remember that fall.
Maybe it's just timing, but the team here suggests ambition and access - Working Title's track record, Universal's infrastructure, and Dunham's comfort with messy, talky, complicated young people. We'll watch to see if Netflix moves this into a formal order. For now, it's one to keep on your board.
