Netflix’s Anne has found its redhead.
Newcomer Amybeth McNulty (photo above) will play Anne Shirley in the upcoming series adaptation of L.M. Montgomery’s classic novel Anne of Green Gables, the streaming video service announced Friday.
Per the series’ official description:
Anne is a coming-of-age story about an outsider who, against all odds and numerous challenges, fights for love and acceptance and her place in the world. The series centers on a young orphaned girl in the late 1890s who, after an abusive childhood spent in orphanages and the homes of strangers, is mistakenly sent to live with an aging sister and brother. Over time, 13-year-old Anne will transform their lives and eventually the entire small town in which they live with her unique spirit, fierce intellect and brilliant imagination.
Geraldine James (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and R.H. Thomson (Chloe) will play Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, respectively — aka the “aging sister and brother” who take Anne in. (Fun fact: Thomson appeared in Road to Avonlea, a 1990s Canadian series loosely based on several of Montgomery’s other Anne-related novels.)
Anne, which is produced with Canada’s CBC, will “honor the foundation of the novel” but also will explore “new territory” such as feminism, prejudice and bullying, according to a release for the series.
McNulty’s credits include the film Morgan and the Sky television series Agatha Raisin.
Moira Walley-Beckett (Breaking Bad) will serve as writer and showrunner of the eight-episode first season.
Anne of Green Gables has spawned more than a dozen television and movie adaptations since its original release; Reign‘s Megan Follows starred as the orphan for the CBC in 1985. Another iteration — Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, starring Martin Sheen (The West Wing) as Matthew — will air on PBS in November.
