Seems like we might need to get our shovels back out. Variety is reporting that Disney+ has picked up the pilot for a new adaptation of Holes, the novel by Louis Sachar that was already turned into a 2003 film starring Shia Labeouf.
According to the official logline: “In this reimagining of the beloved 1998 book from Louis Sachar, a teenage girl is sent to a detention camp where the ruthless Warden forces the campers to dig holes for a mysterious purpose.”
It seems, then, that this new adaptation is going to gender swap the central character, but preserve many other elements of the original story.
The original book tells the story of Stanley Yelnats, an unlucky boy from a family of unlucky people who is sent to a juvenile detention camp for a crime he did not commit. While there, he is forced to dig holes as punishment before eventually discovering that the story of the detention center is more tied to his personal history than he ever imagined.
Drew Goddard, who is serving as one of the show’s executive producers, said that the book made a major impact on him back when it first came out.
“My mom’s been a schoolteacher for her whole life and, as such, she’s served as a de facto book scout for Goddard Textiles,” Goddard said. “She always knows what ‘the kids’ are into long before everyone else does. ‘Holes’ was the first book she suggested to me – this was back in the late ‘90s – and she was positive it was going to be a phenomenon. It feels good to bring it full circle for Mrs. Goddard and her sixth grade class.”
