Hey, all you soap stans, ABC’s got something to simply die for coming your way. Deadline reports that Pine Valley, a primetime sequel to the iconic daytime soap opera All My Children, is officially in the works at ABC. The drama series is being executive-produced by former All My Children stars and current married couple Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, alongside Andrew Stearn and filmmaker Robert Nixon, the son of the late All My Children creator Agnes Nixon. Created in 1970, the soap ran for over 40 years before being canceled in 2011 owing to declining ratings. The primetime sequel will reportedly follow “a young journalist with a secret agenda comes to expose the dark and murderous history of a town named Pine Valley only to become entangled in a feud between the Kane and Santos families.â€
While no official deals are in place, the sequel series will reportedly introduce a new generation of characters as well as bring back some old fan favorites. It’s rumored that Ripa and Consuelos, who met in 1995 on the set of All My Children while playing Hayley and Mateo Santos, may even make an appearance on the series. However, we won’t be satisfied unless Erica Kane, a.k.a. the inimitable Susan Lucci, makes exactly 19 appearances on the program, one for every Daytime Emmy nomination she received for All My Children before she finally won in 1999.