A series adaptation of the 2006 film “Aquamarine” has received a pilot order at Disney+ and Disney Channel, Variety has learned.
Emma Roberts, who starred in the original film, will guest star as Claire Brown in the pilot, with Roberts also onboard as an executive producer. The project hails from writer Sarah Watson, with the film’s director, Elizabeth Allen Rosenbaum, attached to direct and executive produce. Susan Cartsonis, who produced the film, will also executive produce. John Quaintance and Jessica Bendinger wrote the original film, which was based on a novel of the same name by Alice Hoffman. Quintance, Bendinger, and Hoffman are not involved in the pilot.
The logline for the pilot states, “When teenaged Coral moves to a dreamy seaside town, she begins unraveling the truth behind her mother’s disappearance—and discovers her mother was a mermaid, awakening magical powers in Coral just as secrets beneath the waves threaten to surface.”
Along with Roberts, “Aquamarine” starred Joanna “JoJo” Levesque, Sara Paxton, Jake McDorman, and Arielle Kebbel. In the film, best friends Claire (Roberts) and Hailey (Levesque) try to help mermaid Aquamarine (Paxton) find true love. The film was not particularly well-received when it was first released, but has since achieved cult status.
Since starring in “Aquamarine,” Roberts has gone on to star in films like “We’re the Millers,” “Palo Alto,” and “The Art of Getting By.” In television, she is known for her frequent collaborations with Ryan Murphy, which includes starring in multiple seasons of “American Horror Story” as well as the Fox show “Scream Queens.”
Watson previously created the popular Freeform series “The Bold Type,” which aired for five seasons. She most recently wrote multiple episodes of the Disney+ series “Percy Jackson and the Olympians” and created the CBS medical drama “Pure Genius.”
In addition to directing “Aquamarine,” Rosenbaum has directed episodes of shows like “Gossip Girl,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “All American,” “Empire,” “Ginny & Georgia,” and “Dead to Me.”
Watson is repped by Verve and Range Media Partners. Rosenbaum is repped by WME and McKuin Frankel Whitehead. Roberts is repped by UTA, Sweeney Entertainment, Felker Toczek, and Shelter PR.
This is the latest example of Disney attempting to reboot one of their film properties as a TV series. Disney+ has previously given pilot orders to adaptations of “Holes” and “Witch Mountain.” Disney has also recently commissioned pilots for shows like “Coven Academy,” which was picked up to series in 2025, as well as the upcoming pilot for an adaptation of the “Eerie Elementary” books.