The demand for sexy, youth-targeted programming has never been higher, and the godfather of the the CW–based movement, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, is lending his talents to HBO Max. According to Deadline, the producer is making good on his big Warner Bros. TV contract with two new shows, both of which will be goth-sexy. The Shelly Society was co-created by the Riverdale showrunner with writers Tessa Leigh Williams and James DeWille, and it’s described as “a mash-up of gothic horror and teen romance featuring young Mary Shelley.†In other words, you have your sexy Dickinson, Apple TV+, but there are more young literary legends who deserve their own hip reimaginings! In the spirit of that other new teen noir with attractive 20-somethings, Nancy Drew, in The Shelley Society, “Young author Mary Shelley leads a band of Romantic outlaws— among them, her lovers Percy and Lord Byron — against all manner of supernatural threats and monsters.†Aguirre-Sacasa is slated to serve as showrunner.
The second new series is The Brides, and Deadline describes it as “a vampire soap about empowered, immortal women and the things they do to maintain wealth, prestige, legacy — and their non-traditional family.†Because the Who-Fucks Industrial Complex, as one Vulture writer described it, demands that the darkness and sexiness of any property be dialed up, The Brides reportedly “leans stronger into horror and sexuality as it reimagines the classic vampire characters.†Horror! Sex! High-priced soap dramas! Without commercial restrictions in place, we can only imagine that Aguirre-Sacasa will let his imagination run truly wild — like beyond cults and talking to your dead brother’s preserved corpse wild — for HBO Max.