Julian Fellowes To Adapt Detective Brunetti Books As TV Series In Works At 20th Television From Late Producer Ileen Maisel

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: Julian Fellowes is going from crimes of high society to real crimes. The Downton Abbey and The Gilded Age creator is set to write and executive produce a TV adaptation of Swiss-American author Donna Leon’s contemporary Detective Brunetti book series, which is in development at 20th Television.

The project was originated and set up at the studio by Fellowes’ longtime friend and mentor, producer Ileen Maisel who died in February at the age of 68.

She had been in the 20th Television fold since 2018 when she signed a first-look deal with its former division Fox21. Maisel will be credited as an executive producer on the Brunetti series alongside writer Fellowes, Gesine Lubben, PK Fellowes and Lawrence Elman.

Author Leon will co-executive produce. Playwright Felix Legge will serve as co-writer and producer. While the setting is contemporary, the Brunetti series adaptation’s official description pays homage to a literary classic with its first line echoing the opening line of Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina: “Unhappy detectives are all alike; a happy detective struggles to stay happy in their own way.