The Bad Seed has a long history of adaptation. First a 1954 novel by William March, the killer kid shocker was crafted into a Broadway play that same year by Maxwell Anderson before Mervyn LeRoy’s now famous 1956 film carried over much of the original stage cast (including child performer Patty McCormack). In 1985, The Bad Seed materialized as a TV-movie with Carrie Wells as 9 year-old murderess ‘Rachel,’ instead of ‘Rhoda.’ Now, Witches of East End and melodramatic thriller network Lifetime (who was to have aired The Omen series, Damien until it went to A&E) will tackle another iteration.
THR reports Babara Marshall will script the new Bad Seed, with Mark Wolper (Bates Motel) producing. The new take concerns “Kate, a successful working wife and mother, always seeking to give the best life to her daughter. She is confronted with one problem she cant overcome: her daughter is a relentless, murdering sociopath whose viciousness is matched only by her brilliance. Will Kate be able to learn the truth before its too late?”
Lifetime just had a ratings hit with A Deadly Adoption, the Will Ferrell and Kristen Wiig-starring film from writer Andrew Steele, which saw the comedy favorites in a largely earnest pastiche of “Lifetime movies.”
