1 of 3 | Reba McEntire attends the Academy of Country Music Awards in 2019. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI |
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Oct. 15 (UPI) -- NBC is adapting Fried Green Tomatoes as a new TV series starring Reba McEntire.
Entertainment Weekly confirmed Wednesday that McEntire, 65, will play Idgie Threadgoode in an updated adaptation of Fannie Flagg's novel Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe.
Jennifer Cecil will write and executive produce the series, with McEntire, Flagg and Norman Lear to also serve as executive producers. Lear was an executive producer on the 1991 film adaptation of the book.
Fried Green Tomatoes follows the friendship between Evelyn Couch, a middle-aged housewife, and Ninny Threadgoode, an elderly woman living in a nursing home. Ninny recalls her life in Whistle Stop, Ala., where her sister-in-law Idgie and friend Ruth ran a cafe.
Jon Avnet directed the 1991 movie adaptation, which starred Kathy Bates as Evelyn, Mary Stuart Masterson as Idgie, Mary-House Parker as Ruth and Jessica Tandy as Ninny.
Variety said the TV series will explore the lives of descendants from the original. Idgie (McEntire) returns to Whistle Stop after a decade away and must contend with a changed town, estranged daughter, failing cafe and life-changing secret.
McEntire is a country music star and actress who starred on the WB/CW sitcom Reba from 2001 to 2007. She has since appeared on the series Malibu Country, Baby Daddy and Last Man Standing.