Disney+ is not moving forward with its TV adaptation of the Louis Sachar novel “Holes” — which was the basis of Disney’s 2003 film of the same name — after ordering a pilot at the beginning of this year.
Sachar’s novel was published in 1998 and won a National Book Award and a Newbery Medal. The film, directed by Andrew Davis, starred Shia LaBeouf as Stanley Yelnats, a teenager sent to a juvenile detention camp called Camp Green Lake for a crime he did not commit. There, while being forced to spend every day digging holes in the desert, he discovers a shocking connection between the land and his family. The cast also included Sigourney Weaver, Khleo Thomas, Jon Voight, Tim Blake Nelson, Patricia Arquette, Dulé Hill and Eartha Kitt. Both the book and the movie were critical and commercial successes.
The new Disney+ pilot was gender bent, following a teenage girl at a detention camp instead of a boy. Shay Rudolph was set to play Hayley, the lead role, with Greg Kinnear as the warden. The cast also included Aidy Bryant as camp counselor Sissy, Noah Cottrell as kitchen employee Kitch and Flor Delis Alicea, Anire Kim Amoda, Iesha Daniels, Sophie Dieterlen, Alexandra Doke and Maeve Press as Hayley’s fellow campers at Camp Yucca.
The “Holes” pilot had Alina Mankin attached as writer with Liz Phang as showrunner and Jac Schaeffer as director. Executive producers included Mankin, Phang, Drew Goddard via Goddard Textiles, Sarah Esberg and Mike Medavoy via Shamrock, which holds the rights. Goddard Textiles’ Andrea Massaro was a co-executive producer. The pilot was produced by Walden Media, which produced the film, and 20th Television was the studio.
