In what has got to be one of the quickest adaptations from book shelf to television, Hulu has announced a one-hour pilot based on Xochitl Gonzalez's highly anticipated forthcoming novel, Olga Dies Dreaming. Our sardonic queen Aubrey Plaza will both produce and star as the main character in the television drama. While Alfonso Gomez-Rejon is set to direct and executive produce.

 

What is Olga Dies Dreaming about?

For those of us without access to an advanced copy of Olga Dies Dreaming and wondering what to expect? Here's what we know so far.

The show is set amongst the backdrop of New York City in 2017. It follows Puerto Rican-American siblings Olga, played by Plaza, and Pedro Acevedo as Hurricane Maria brings their mother, Blanca, back into their lives. The siblings, now adults, were raised by their grandmother as Blanca left them to join nationalist group 'Young Lords'. Now Blanca is back and Olga and her brother must reckon with her presence while tending to their glamorous careers. Olga is a high-profile wedding planner working with Manhattans elite, while Pedro is a local congressman to Brooklyn's Sunset Park, their gentrifying LatinX neighbourhood. As we can expect with these sizzling foundations, drama ensues.

Olga Dies Dreaming, the book, is yet to be released, but we're already itching to get out hands on it. Author Xochitl Gonzalez, is a NYC native, raised like her characters by her grandmother in Brooklyn. She has a MFA from the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, an achievement made all the more recognisable thanks to Hannah Horvath's brief stint there in Girls. She was sought by Director Gomez-Rejon after he, like many, were taken with the book after finishing it. Gonzalez will write the script and help executive produce the Hulu pilot.

A release date is yet to be announced.

Images: Aubrey Plaza, Brooklyn Caribbean Lit Fest