A Gender-Swapped ‘Holes’ Pilot for Disney+ Is in the Works

Disney+ has ordered to pilot a series based on the acclaimed book from Louis Sachar, “Holes,” an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire. The project will be a new take on the story, this time gender-swapping the characters to make it about a teen girl sent to the desert to toil away in the dirt.

The Disney+ series will be a project of 20th Century Television and will be executive produced by Drew Goddard via his Goddard Textiles banner, with Alina Mankin (“Lodge 49,” “The Mindy Project,” “Anne With an E”) serving as writer and EP and Liz Phang (“Yellowjackets,” “Foundation,” “The Haunting of Hill House”) serving as showrunner and EP.

No cast was announced.

Sachar’s “Holes” from 1998 was previously adapted into a 2003 Disney film starring Shia LaBeouf, which made $71 million worldwide against a $20 million budget. The novel too sold millions of copies and won the Newbery Medal for children’s literature and the National Book Award. It tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, the youngest generation in a family of generationally unlucky people who is accused of stealing a pair of shoes and is sentenced to a discipline camp where he’s required to dig a perfect 6-foot hole every day at the mysterious demands of a vicious warden. Sachar also wrote two spinoff “Holes” books.

Per an official logline, this time around the “Holes” series will focus on a teenaged girl sent to a similar detention camp.

The 2003 “Holes” had an impressive cast that included LaBeouf, Sigourney Weaver as the Warden, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Patricia Arquette, Khleo Thomas, Henry Winkler, Dúle Hill, and Eartha Kitt.

The gender-swapping trend in film and TV has cooled down since the 20-teens, but there was a report last year about Cord Jefferson writing a new take on “Just Cause” starring Scarlett Johansson.

Goddard has a first-look deal with 20th Century Television. Mike Medavoy, who also produced the original “Holes,” is also an EP alongside Sarah Esberg for Goddard Textiles. Walden Media and Shamrock are the rights holders and are also non-writing executive producers.

Mankin is represented by UTA and Kaplan / Perrone Entertainment. Phang is represented by WME and Yorn Levine. Goddard is represented by UTA and Hansen Jacobson.

Variety first reported the news of the pilot order.