Julia Child’s Life as a Spy Inspires New TV Show

Before she became America’s favorite TV chef, Julia Child worked as an agent for the the OSS, a World War II-era intelligence agency. And now, writer Benjamin Brand is using both of her exciting careers as the inspiration for a new hour-long comedy-drama called Julia, which just landed at ABC Signature Studios, the digital/cable wing of ABC. Deadline reports that the program imagines a world wherein the CIA drags Julia back into the spy game at the peak of her TV fame. Obviously, that never happened, but it could still make for a very entertaining TV show.

Brand says that the idea for this show was born many years ago when he tuned into a program called Cooking for the C.I.A, hoping to see something about the Central Intelligence Agency, but instead saw a program about the Culinary Institute of America. The writer tells Deadline: “Many years later, when I read a biography of Julia Child and learned about her experiences during World War II, working for the Office of Strategic Services — the precursor to the C.I.A. — the story of Julia quickly fell into place.”

ABC Signature Studios has not revealed any casting information or a timeframe for the production, and, of course, as is the case with any TV show, there’s a chance that Julia could get stalled in development and never make it to the small screen. But the last time Hollywood invested in a Julia Child story — Nora Ephron’s 2009 film Julie and Julia — people bought a lot of tickets, so clearly audiences are interested in her life.

Stay tuned for more details on the TV show as they become available, and if you have any thoughts as to who should play the titular role in Julia, please share them in the comments.

• ABC Signature Lands Julia Child As CIA Agent Dramedy Spec By Benjamin Brand [Deadline]
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