Netflix has announced Alicia Silverstone and Mark Feuerstein will star in its upcoming reboot of The Baby-Sitters Club. The half-hour comedy drama is a contemporary revamp of Ann M. Martin’s iconic book series of the same name.
The 10-episode series tracks the babysitting adventures of five best friends — Kristy Thomas, Mary Anne Spier, Claudia Kishi, Stacey McGill, and Dawn Schafer — in Stoneybrook, Connecticut. Elizabeth Thomas-Brewer (Silverstone) is the mother of Kristy Thomas and the love interest of Watson Brewer (Feuerstein), as per The Hollywood Reporter. The series will tackle themes of divorce, racism, and belonging as geared for kids, teens, and adults. Production has already begun in Vancouver.
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As previously announced, The Baby-Sitters Club will be produced by author Ann M. Martin herself. “I’m very excited about the forthcoming series on Netflix, which I hope will inspire a new generation of readers and leaders everywhere,” said Martin. She’s joined by GLOW’s Rachel Shukert as a showrunner and Broad City’s Lucy Aniello as both an executive producer and director.
Why would Netflix want to reboot the series now? For starters, there’s the nonstop adoration of ’90s nostalgia. But on top of that, they hope to empower young women. “The themes of The Baby-Sitters Club still resonate 30 years after the original book series was released, and there has never been a more opportune time to tell an aspirational story about empowering young female entrepreneurs,” said Melissa Cobb, vp of kids and family content at Netflix. “Together with Ann M. Martin and the team at Walden Media, our ambition is to contemporize the storylines and adventures of this iconic group of girlfriends to reflect modern-day issues.”
