Adding to the growing list of podcast-to-screen properties is 2 Dope Queens, optioned by HBO to turn into a four-part comedy special to debut in 2018.
The popular podcast launched in 2016 is hosted by Phoebe Robinson (Broad City) and Jessica Williams (The Daily Show): they are BFFs who talk about everything under the sun, and their topics range from the sombre (race issues, elections, intersectionality) to the silly (slumber parties, haunted houses, mum jokes).
We believe HBO couldn’t have picked better people from the world of podcasts to bring to the small screen: While Williams recently displayed her fine acting and comedic chops on Netflix’s The Incredible Jessica James (we wholeheartedly recommend a weekend binge of the romcom series, also featuring Chris O’Dowd), Robinson is equally slaying it on the Amazon series I Love Dick.
“Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson prove you can be hilarious and socially conscious at the same time,” said HBO programming president Casey Bloys in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re looking forward to bringing these very funny, talented women and their unique points of view to the HBO audience.”
And while the women at 2 Dope Queen’s are certainly not the first podcast people to crossover to a visual medium (Comedy Bang! Bang!, WTF with Marc Maron), they certainly won’t be the last either as cross-platform media picks up the world over. Here are four other podcasts set to come to TV soon:
Homecoming
If you’re into podcasts and you still haven’t gotten around to Homecoming, you have only yourself to blame for missing one of the best audio mystery series out there. The six-episode season one, which followed a shadowy government experimental programme that worked with war vets, featured the star power and voice talents of TV and film personalities such as David Schwimmer (Friends), Oscar Isaac (Ex Machina, Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Catherine Keener (Being John Malkovich, Begin Again). Having returned for a second season last month, with a companion e-book The Lost Coast in tow, Gimlet Media and podcast creators Eli Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg announced that Sam Esmail (Mr. Robot creator) will direct and co-produce the show for the screen along with Amazon. Hollywood biggie Julia Roberts is set to star. There’s no word on a release date yet.
StartUp
Widely touted as Zach Braff’s return to television, Alex Inc. is a TV adaptation of Alex Blumberg’s widely popular podcast StartUp, about the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurship. The show will follow Alex Schulman (Braff) as he quits his radio journalist job to open a podcast network (talk about meta, right?). While the trailer is out and looks like the love child of Garden State and The Intern, we are excited to see Braff back in action on the small screen. The actor is also directing and producing the show.
Limetown
The creepy podcast that’s famously known as the mash-up of X-Files and Serial is slowly but surely working towards a TV adaptation. Zack and Skip of Two-Up Productions, who recently released the podcast musical 36 Questions (which we’re fully in love with), have repeatedly said that their final aim is to tell visual stories. As things stand, we know that a pilot for a Limetown series has been written and several production houses are now showing interest. With shows such as Stranger Things and The OA achieving critical success, a Limetown TV show couldn’t get here soon enough.
Lore
Amazon has picked up Aaron Mahnke’s spooky podcast Lore for a 10-episode visual adaptation. The 2015-launched podcast follows real-life “ghost” tales and investigates the origin stories behind popular myths such as zombies, vampires and such. The grapevine reports that Robert Patrick (Terminator 2: Judgement Day, The X-Files) has been roped in to play a lead role. The show is expected to premiere early 2018 as of now.
