Persian actress Sarah Shahi will be the first person of color to play Nancy Drew onscreen. Shahi (Person of Interest, The L Word) will take on the role of the famous female detective in the upcoming CBS series Drew. The show will use the book series as a jumping-off point, portraying Nancy Drew in her 30s, working as a police officer in New York City. CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller told The Hollywood Reporter in January that the character would be “diverse” and that he was “open to any ethnicity.” Emma Roberts starred in the 2007 film Nancy Drew, which was mediocre despite Roberts’s awesome costumes. There was also a series of underrated and delightful screwball-y movies starring Bonita Granville, made from 1938–1939. The series will show a vulnerable side to the famously confident detective: According to The Hollywood Reporter, the character “arrested the wrong guy, was publicly called on it and quit the force. Drew will find her struggling to find a way back to the confident character she’s best known as to audiences worldwide.” Drew will be written and executive-produced by husband and wife Joan Rater and Tony Phelan of Grey’s Anatomy, so it will probably make us sob hysterically.
