'Misfits' Joins Spec Pilot Season: Iwan Rheon & Lauren Socha From U.K. Version Talk Josh Schwartz's U.S. Version

It looks like the U.K. hit "Misfits" is one step closer to coming to America, with "Gossip Girl" creator Josh Schwartz at the helm.

"Misfits" creator Howard Overman penned the American pilot with Schwartz and though there's no network attached to the project yet, Deadline reports that they sent out their spec pilot to the networks this week, along with more than a dozen other specs.

"I hope we get to make it," Schwartz excitedly told The Huffington Post at the "Gossip Girl" 100th episode celebration in December. "I really hope we get the chance to make. I'm working with Howard Overman, who created the U.K. version of 'Misfits,' so I'm playing the guide, and it's really his baby. I'm a huge fan of ['Misfits'], and that's my role on the show, as a fan."

The BAFTA award-winning raunchy sci-fi teen dramedy follows a group of young community service workers who discover they have powers after a freak electrical storm.

Unlike some failed U.S. adaptions of U.K. shows ("Skins," "Life on Mars"), "Misfits" isn't totally unfamiliar to American audiences. The first two seasons of the hit E4 show made their way to Hulu last summer and millions have been watching. Season 3 is currently streaming exclusively on Hulu, with new episodes airing every Monday.

Iwan Rheon, who currently stars as Simon in the U.K. "Misfits," told The Huffington Post in a phone interview: "It will be very interesting to see how it changes to appeal to American audiences ... That's what it's all about, isn't it? Taking a great idea and putting your spin on it. I think it's brilliant, and I can't wait to see it."

But Rheon's BAFTA-winning co-star, Lauren Socha, who stars as the brash Kelly, thinks that finding her American counterpart is going to be a challenge for the "Misfits" American reboot.

"You know what? Without sounding disrespectful, 'Misfits' is 'Misfits,'" Socha told The Huffington Post via phone. "We've won the BAFTA. I've got a BAFTA. We don't need to prove to anyone else. Obviously, they're going to take it to a higher level, with a production team and stuff like that. If America wants to try and smash it, they can, but at the end of the day, they've got 'Shameless' and 'The Office' over there. Competition is absolutely nothing because with English telly, you start with something and then you leave it as that. And I think it's going to be very difficult to try and get a job as Kelly in America. She's so distinctive! I'm impossible to play! Good luck to it, though. I think I'll be a bit gutted, but let's see what they do."

Watch the first episode of "Misfits" Season 3, now streaming on Hulu. New episodes of the teen supernatural drama premiere every Monday.

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Comments

[NotMyBirthday21]

11:46 AM on 02/28/2012

I love Mistfits. It would be so cool if it came to America.

[AndrewSpader]

02:52 PM on 01/26/2012

I loved Misfits season 1 & 2..
Watched the first episode of season 3 and no Nathan (Robert Sheehan).. :(
He was my favorite character.
Not the same without him..

[Dan Jighter]

05:01 PM on 01/20/2012

To do a US version of Misfits, I just wouldn't do Kelly, I'd do some other character. Kelly is clearly based on a UK stereotype (a chavette) and that doesn't immediately translate into a US stereotype. They should have a different female character that fits US stereotypes.

The problem with some of the US adaptations of UK shows is they try to hard to just copy the UK show and they copy lines and plots verbatim while failing to capture the essence and spirit and the product comes off as very different and crappy. Watch the first few episodes of the US office, it is just going through the motions of soullessly copying the UK office episodes. With a US Misfits, you shouldn't copy the UK misfits, you should keep the same general theme and tone while translating it into something that is its own thing. All the misfits fit their own stereotypes. And the cast is somewhat portable, consider how easy it was to replace Nathan with Rudy as class clown. The US misfits can fit similar stereotypes (class clown, nerd, slut, guy with regret, lower class woman) while being different characters with their own personality and fitting US stereotypes that US audiences relate to. You can still have the nerd become Superhoodie and such. It would be better for the writers to put on their own personal twist on the characters anyways.

[IndyReader]

02:39 PM on 01/11/2012

I, for one, am not looking forward to some American sanitized version of Misfits. As someone below said, I don't want Kelly, who has a real woman figure, be portrayed by some finger-sized model. A couple of the characters are attractive, but even they still look like normal people, not Hollywood people. And the "family values" crowd would never be able to understand Misfits. Just like Law & Order, UK didn't work out so well, neither will an American Misfits.

[hismuse]

12:42 PM on 01/10/2012

Like Skins, Misfits will never work in America. I said long before the Skins USA came out it wouldn't work and it didn't. Anyone who really knows Misfits knows how it won't translate here well because it is so raunchy and distinctive.

[Ricardo Cruz]

05:59 PM on 01/09/2012

REALLY, The beauty of misfit is that it is strickly U.K. Its the same thing with DR.WHO. Don't mess with someting you cannot improve on. It is all about the U.K. sensibility and the accents and there is noway that american TV can duplicate their raunchiness unless its on HBO or some other pay per view station

[akira h]

05:01 PM on 01/09/2012

Why couldn't they just make a spin-off instead? I mean, one of the original main characters is stuck in America and all.

[wkdbrooklyn]

04:10 PM on 01/09/2012

This is my favorite show. Please don't screw it up. Lovin' Iwan.

[allerleirauh]

03:04 PM on 01/09/2012

Part of the beauty of Misfits is that they look like normal people. I don't want to see a Kelly who's a skinny supermodel. But you know that's the direction they will go for an American model.

[Stefano Seebing]

03:00 PM on 01/09/2012

But we have Misfits via Hulu. Why make a U.S. version? It's already here.

[duffdonuts]

02:21 PM on 01/09/2012

Is Glen Danzig going to be in this?

[onionboy]

01:39 PM on 01/09/2012

"Unlike some failed U.S. adaptions of U.K. shows ("Skins," "Life on Mars"), "Misfits" isn't totally unfamiliar to American audiences."

Both of your examples were actually on BBC America well before the US versions. Familiarity doesn't appear to be helping. Pity too because I liked both versions of Life on Mars, except for the force-rush ending of the US.

[geoff kl]

05:18 AM on 01/10/2012

ya...many in america knew about both original shows

both american versions failed...because they werent good and lost much in translation

[onionboy]

12:40 PM on 01/10/2012

I didn't like either version of Skins. I liked both versions of Life on Mars.