In a 1992 interview with 60 Minutes, Hillary Rodham Clinton famously said, “I’m not sitting here, some little woman standing by my man like Tammy Wynette.” In Curtis Sittenfeld’s alternate-history novel, Rodham, she isn’t sitting there—because she never married Bill Clinton. Now, a drama series based on that story is currently in development at Hulu, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In the book, published by Random House in May, Hillary Rodham narrates the story of her life, which follows, in broad strokes, that of the real-life Hillary Rodham Clinton—until she refuses to marry Bill, her Rhodes Scholar boyfriend from Arkansas. From there, the couple’s political careers, and American history, take very different courses.
Kirkus’ review noted that Sittenfeld’s version of Hillary Rodham “tracks with the real person who’s been living in public all these years, and it’s enjoyable to hear her think about her own desires, her strengths and weaknesses, her vulnerabilities and self-justifications; it’s also fun to see how familiar events would still occur under different circumstances.”
Sittenfeld published a novel in 2008, American Wife, whose fictional protagonist bore a very strong resemblance to another first lady: Laura Bush. And Hulu released Hillary, a four-part documentary series about the former first lady, senator, and secretary of state, this past March.
Sarah Treem, who co-created Showtime’s The Affair, will write the Rodham adaptation, and she’ll executive-produce the series with Sittenfeld if Hulu officially picks it up as a series, noted the Hollywood Reporter. No casting news was announced at this early stage.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
