Nancy Drew is an American mystery drama television series based on the series of mystery novels about the titular character. The series was adapted for The CW by Noga Landau, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, and is produced by CBS Television Studios, in association with Fake Empire.
It is the third Nancy Drew television series, following The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977–1979) and a 1995 Canadian-American version. Development for a new television series started in 2015 at CBS, then later at NBC. In 2018, the project moved to The CW where the series was ordered for a pilot.
The series is narrated and led by the amateur sleuth Nancy Drew, played by Kennedy McMann, and features an ensemble cast with re-imagined versions of the characters from the books: Leah Lewis as George Fan, Maddison Jaizani as Bess Marvin, Tunji Kasim as Ned Nickerson and Scott Wolf as Carson Drew. It also stars Alex Saxon, Alvina August and Riley Smith as new characters invented for the series.
The series debuted on October 9, 2019 to mixed reviews. In October 2019, The CW picked up the series for a full season and in January 2020, the network renewed the series for a second season, which is set to premiere in January 2021.
Premise
After her college plans are put on hold, 18-year-old Nancy Drew finds herself involved in a ghostly mystery when she and her four friends are witnesses (and suspects) to a murder and they all team up to find the person responsible.
Cast and Characters
- Kennedy McMann as Nancy Drew, a brilliant former teenage detective whose sense of self used to come from solving mysteries, but who finds herself reluctantly drawn into a homicide case connecting to her family.
- Leah Lewis as Georgia "George" Fan, Nancy's old nemesis from high school and her boss at the local diner, The Bayside Claw.
- Maddison Jaizani as Bess Marvin, a rich city girl with a mysterious past who works as a waitress with Nancy at The Bayside Claw.
- Tunji Kasim as Ned "Nick" Nickerson, a former teenage convict and football player who now runs an auto repair shop. He is Nancy's ex-boyfriend.
- Alex Saxon as Ace, the zen and amiable dishwasher/cook at The Bayside Claw with a secret to hide.
- Alvina August as Det. Karen Hart (season 1), an investigator with the Horseshoe Bay police department who is dating Nancy's father Carson. August is credited through "The Haunting of Nancy Drew".
- Riley Smith as Ryan Hudson, a handsome and affluent socialite who is the husband of murder victim Tiffany Hudson. In the end of season 1, it is revealed that he is Nancy Drew's biological father and that her mother was Lucy Sable.
- Scott Wolf as Carson Drew, a criminal defense attorney and Nancy's widowed father, whose attempts to connect with Nancy since her mother's death have failed. Carson is Nancy's adopted father and secretly adopted her with his wife Katherine.