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Scarlett Johansson brings her rom-com back after nearly 20 years but not in the way fans expect

Scarlett Johansson returns to a familiar story in a new role, teaming up with Netflix for a project that promises high-society drama

Nearly two decades after it first hit theaters, ‘The Nanny Diaries’ is getting another shot, but this time on the small screen. And yes, Scarlett Johansson is back in the mix, though not quite how fans might expect. According to Deadline, a new television version of the 2007 romantic comedy is in development at Netflix. The project pulls from the same source material as the film: Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus’ bestselling 2002 novel. Back in the day, Johansson played Annie Braddock, a recent graduate who stumbles into a nanny job with a wealthy Manhattan family. What starts as a gig turns into something messier, as Annie gets tangled in her employers' personal drama while trying to figure out her own path.

This time around, Johansson won’t be in front of the camera. Instead, she will be an executive producer. The project is being developed under Greg Berlanti’s banner, Berlanti Productions, which operates under an overall deal with Warner Bros. Television. Amy Chozick, known for ‘The Girls on the Bus’, teams up with Jenny Bicks of ‘Sex and the City’ to lead the show as co-showrunners, with both also handling scriptwriting duties. Details about the cast are still under wraps, and there’s no premiere date yet. So, for now, it’s a waiting game.

The original movie, directed by Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini, features a stacked cast. It includes Laura Linney, Alicia Keys, Chris Evans, Paul Giamatti, Donna Murphy, and Nicholas Reese Art. Despite that lineup, the film didn’t exactly light up the box office. It pulled in about $47.8 million globally and faced a chilly response from critics, landing at 34% on Rotten Tomatoes. The story follows Annie, a struggling writer who takes up a nanny job while searching for direction. She ends up working for a wealthy Upper East Side couple, often referred to as Mr. and Mrs. X. However, she soon realizes the job is far more complicated than babysitting. In the book’s version, Annie even considers turning her experience into a tell-all project, juggling her moral compass with the opportunity of a lifetime.

That angle could easily be adapted in a series format, giving it a bit more edge. There’s also more material to draw from. McLaughlin and Kraus released a follow-up novel, ‘Nanny Returns’, in 2010, which revisits Annie years later. However, it is unclear whether the show will pull from that sequel. Interestingly, the idea for this adaptation didn’t come out of nowhere. Johansson and Berlanti reportedly started talking about revisiting the book while working together on ‘Fly Me to the Moon’. It’s a film Berlanti directed, and Johansson starred in. That collaboration seems to have planted the seed, and now it’s growing into a full-fledged project.