‘Desperate Housewives’ Reboot ‘Wisteria Lane’ In Works At Onyx

EXCLUSIVE: One of the most celebrated streets in TV history is ready to welcome fresh residents. Wisteria Lane, a reimagining of the hit ABC mystery dramedy series Desperate Housewives, has been set up for development at Onyx Collective, Deadline has learned exclusively. It comes from Kerry Washington‘s Simpson Street and 20th Television where the company is based.

Written by Natalie Chaidez (The Flight Attendant), Wisteria Lane is described as a fun, sexy, darkly comedic soap/mystery in the vein of Desperate Housewives, set among a group of five very different friends and sometimes frenemies who all live on a picture-perfect cul de sac called “Wisteria Lane.” On the surface, all the Wisteria neighbors are living the dream: stunning homes, gorgeous families, shiny SUVs in the driveway. But behind those white-picket fences and smiling Insta posts are SECRETS.

Desperate Housewives starred Teri Hatcher, Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and, for the first five seasons, Nicollette Sheridan as five women — mostly friends — living on Wisteria Lane, who begin uncovering dim secrets after their neighbor Mary Alice Young kills herself.

Chaidez executive produces Wisteria Lane alongside Washington and Pilar Savone via their Simpson Street as well as Stacey Sher (Into the Badlands) through her Shiny Penny. It is unclear whether Washington could potentially appear on the show. 20th TV, which recently absorbed Desperate Housewives studio ABC Studios’ successor ABC Signature, is producing.

Desperate Housewives creator/executive producer Marc Cherry was not part of the pitch but could be involved in the project in some capacity, sources said.

I hear Wisteria Lane was pitched to both Onyx, whose shows stream on Hulu, and Hulu Originals. Washington and Savone have an existing relationship at both Disney units. Simpson Street is behind Onyx’s most successful series to date, Reasonable Doubt, which has been renewed for a third season, as well as Onyx’s comedy series UnPrisoned, starring Washington and Delroy Lindo, which ran for two seasons. At Hulu proper, Simpson Street produced with Hello Sunshine the Emmy-nominated confined series Little Fires Everywhere, which also starred Washington.

Hulu already has two other series reboots in the work from 20th TV, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Prison Break, both with pilot orders.

Wisteria Lane‘s sale comes on the heels of Desperate Housewives‘ 20th anniversary last October, which brought on a fresh wave of nostalgia and reboot talk.

In November, Cherry admitted that “about 70,000 people” have asked him about a reboot as fans’ passion about the show and interest in revisiting it remains robust 13 years after it ended its eight-season run on ABC. The cast have been fielding endless inquiries too, with Longoria saying earlier this month that she “would be the first person” to sign up for a Desperate Housewives reboot. There are no current plans for characters from the original series to appear on Wisteria Lane.

While speculation about a potential Desperate Housewives follow-up — revival, reboot, sequel, spinoff or other offshoot — has been rampant for more than a decade, this marks the first real stab at expanding the franchise.

Keeping the original series’ iconic setting makes sense — while most series’ outdoor locations exploit a mix of exteriors from different places, Wisteria Lane is a real street built on the Universal backlot. While the outdoor set had existed for decades as Colonial Street, it was extensively modified for Desperate Housewives and has since taken on a life of its own. Kept virtually the same as in the show, it has remained a top tourist attraction and part of the Universal Studios Tour and has been used for numerous shows and commercials since.

While Wisteria Lane is expected to keep its fictional street locale, it has not been determined whether the potential series will film in Los Angeles where the original series’ outdoor set is.

In November, Cherry spoke about Wisteria Lane’s significance to the show.

“The character I miss writing the most is actually Wisteria Lane; that was the most fun playground anyone in the history of television has ever had,” he told People at the time, noting that he would be interested in revisiting the street and its housewives in a different decade, notably the 1960s, for a follow-up to his original series.

Launching the same season as fellow hit ABC series Lost and Grey’s Anatomy, Desperate Housewives was an instant smash, becoming a pop-culture obsession and introducing an addictive fresh genre that mixes comedy and drama, mystery and soapy storytelling. The series also scored with critics and earned seven Emmy Awards throughout its run, including Lead Actress In a Comedy Series for Huffman.

Later this spring, Simpson Street will begin production on the Apple TV+ confined series Imperfect Women, starring Washington, Elisabeth Moss and Kate Mara. In May, the company will theatrically release the action-thriller feature Shadow Force for Lionsgate, starring Washington alongside Omar Sy. The company is repped by CAA, Washington Square Arts and attorney Gretchen Rush.

Prior to serving as executive producer and co-showrunner alongside developer Steve Yockey on Season 2 of Max’s The Flight Attendant, whose mix of dim comedy-drama and mystery-thriller is similar to Desperate Housewives‘, Chaidez was an executive producer and showrunner on USA Network’s crime drama Queen of the South. Her series credits also include Hunters, which she developed; 12 Monkeys; In Plain Sight; Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles; and Heroes. She is repped by CAA and Jackoway Austen Tyerman.

In addition to the Buffy and Prison Break reboot pilots at Hulu, 20th TV has a Malcolm In the Middle four-part sequel at Disney+, with efforts to get a Scrubs reboot off the ground also underway.