Facebook proves once again that it’s serious about breaking into the original content universe by green-lighting 10 episodes of a new Elizabeth Olsen–led dramedy, which will stream exclusively on Facebook Watch. The series is as of yet untitled, but Deadline reports that it is believed to revolve around a young widow “dealing with grief while reconnecting with relationships from her past.” Olsen is known for her starring role in the excellent indie Ingrid Goes West and as Scarlet Witch in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Captain America: Civil War movies.
Olsen will star in and executive produce the new series which was created and written Kit Steinkellner and also counts Lizzy Weiss as showrunner and James Ponsoldt as another executive producer and director of multiple episodes.
Skeptics would note that the streaming field is already saturated enough as it is, with Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime dominating the game and producing more content daily than we can stream in a lifetime. Facebook and Apple are throwing large sums of money at the possibility of muddying up the waters and getting their own slice of the streaming pie. For its part, Apple has a string of high profile projects on the way: a Will.i.am fronted show, an untitled Damien Chazelle series, Are You Sleeping, starring Octavia Spencer, as well as a Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon project and a Steven Spielberg anthology series. Olsen’s new series is one of the first “high-end series” ordered by Facebook; the social media platform has also financed a LaVar Ball reality show as well as a series of other smaller shows.
Nevertheless, Olsen, who deserves a lot more than we have given her, seems excited about the project. “I couldn’t be prouder of the group we have brought together for this show,” Olsen said. “Kit’s story has been near and dear to me for years and I can’t wait to share our dark, funny, and complicated show with the world.“
