Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz Ulf Andersen/Getty Images; Courtesy of Morgan Dox
Novelists Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz will join George Pelecanos, Richard Price and Simon in the writers' room.
The Deuce is filling out its writers' room.
The upcoming HBO drama from David Simon has tapped novelists Megan Abbott and Lisa Lutz as new writers on the series. They'll join current writers George Pelecanos, Richard Price and Simon, who together penned the pilot.
The project, which was given a series order in January, stars Maggie Gyllenhaal and James Franco and is in pre-production in New York. It follows the story of the legalization and subsequent rise of the porn industry in New York’s Times Square from the early 1970s through the mid-1980s, exploring the rough-and-tumble world that existed there until the rise of HIV, the violence of the cocaine epidemic and the renewed real estate market all ended the bawdy turbulence.
Abbott is the Edgar award-winning author of seven novels, including “Dare Me” and “The Fever.” Her next book, “You Will Know Me,” comes out in July 2016, and her writing has also appeared in the New York Times, the Guardian and the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, Lutz is the New York Times' best-selling author of nine novels, including this spring’s new thriller “The Passenger,” “How to Start a Fire,” six novels in the Spellman books series and “Heads You Lose,” which she co-authored with David Hayward. She has also written the children's book “How to Negotiate Everything.”
In addition to Simon, Price and Pelecanos, Nina Noble will executive produce alongside Michelle MacLaren (Breaking Bad), with the latter having directed the pilot but not continuing on with the series beyond that. Marc Henry Johnson produces. In addition to starring, Franco will receive an exec producer credit, while Gyllenhaal also will be credited as a producer.
The Deuce is one of two Simon projects in the works at HBO. The other, an untitled Capitol Hill entry, is still in the pilot stage. The series joins a roster of dramas at the cabler that also includes Game of Thrones, the third and final season of The Leftovers and forthcoming Westworld (which shut down production months ago but is expected to bow this year), as well as period rock drama Vinyl from Martin Scorsese and Mick Jagger. Still in the works is 18th-century music entry Virtuoso from Alan Ball and Elton John.
