Apple has announced that Garth Risk Hallberg’s novel City on Fire will be adapted into a new series from Gossip Girl creators Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage. The eight-episode first season will debut exclusively at Apple TV+.
The initial reporting on the series already indicates the adaptation will deviate from the original book’s plot. Hallberg’s book takes place in the 1970s, while the series will be placed in 2003. Also, the shooting that kickstarts the book occurs on New Year’s Eve, while the series will set the crime on the 4th of July. Even if the adaptation follows its own path, the story will still revolve around the mysterious death of Samantha Cicciaro, an NYU student shot in Central Park. Since there are no witnesses to testify on the event, the police must thoroughly investigate the young woman’s life, uncovering a strange connection between Samantha, a series of city-wide fires, the downtown music scene, and a wealthy uptown real estate family.
City on Fire is the first series order to come from Schwartz and Savage’s first-look deal with Apple under their Fake Empire Productions banner. The duo will write all eight episodes for City on Fire’s first season and will serve as showrunners and executive producers. Fake Empire’s Lis Rowinski will serve as co-executive producer.
Schwartz and Savage are currently involved with HBO Max’s edgier and sexier reboot of Gossip Girl. Joshua Safran, who was an executive producer for the last two seasons of the original Gossip Girl, will serve as showrunner, while Schwartz and Savage are back as executive producers.
The Gossip Girl reboot premieres on HBO Max on July 8. There’s still no release window for Apple’s City on Fire adaptation.