Paper Girls has found its adult star.
Amazon’s adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan’s Eisner Award-winning comics has tapped writer, comedian and actress Ali Wong to lead the cast.
Picked up to series last summer, Paper Girls centers on four girls who are delivering newspapers on the day after Halloween in 1988 when they become unwittingly caught in a conflict between warring factions of time-travelers, sending them on an adventure through time that will save the world. As they travel between our present, the past and the future, they encounter future versions of themselves and must choose to embrace or reject their fate.
Wong will play “Adult Erin,” the woman the show’s 12-year-old Erin (Riley Lai Nelet) grows up to become. When the two Erins finally come face-to-face, they are forced to confront the gap between their childhood hopes, dreams, ambitions and the reality of their grown-up life. The young cast also stars Camryn Jones, Sofia Rosinsky and Fina Strazza.
Paper Girls hails from Legendary Television, where Vaughan is under a big overall deal. The series, which joins Y: The Last Man and Runaways as Vaughan’s comics to be adapted for TV, is also produced by Amazon-based Plan B. Stephany Folsom (Amazon’s Lord of the Rings, Toy Story 4) and Christopher C. Rogers (Halt and Catch Fire) serve as co-showrunners and exec produce alongside Vaughan, comics artist Cliff Chiang and Christopher Cantwell.
Wong recently signed on to star in Netflix dramedy series Beef, opposite Steven Yeun. She also has the second season of Netflix-turned-Adult Swim animated comedy Tuca & Bertie due next month. The best-selling author and stand-up comedian also co-wrote and starred in Netflix’s Always Be My Maybe. She’s repped by UTA and Hansen Jacobson.
Production is expected to begin this year in Chicago. A premiere date has not yet been determined.
