Produced by Sister for Amazon Studios and directed by Reed Morano, The Power is adapted for screen by writer, creator and executive producer Naomi Alderman, who is working alongside an all-female writers’ room

The Powerwill premiere globally on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories

LONDON, UK – 31 October 2019 – Amazon Studios has today announced that Leslie Mann (The Other Woman / This Is 40) will star in the ten-part global thriller, The Power, based on award-winning Naomi Alderman’s international best-selling novel of the same name. Mann will play the charming and ambitious politician Margot Cleary-Lopez in the series.

The Power is produced by Sister (Chernobyl, Giri/Haji, The Split) and directed by Emmy award-winner Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale), and will premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in over 200 countries and territories.

The Power has been adapted for screen by creator and Executive Producer Naomi Alderman, working with an incredible line-up of all-female writers including co-executive producer Claire Wilson (Rocks, Little Drummer Girl, Gangs of London), co-executive producer and story consultant Sarah Quintrell (Ellen, The Trial: A Murder in the Family), Whit Anderson (Ozark, Daredevil), Stacy Osei-Kuffour (Watchmen, PEN15) and novelist Rebecca Levene (The Hollow Gods Trilogy).

The world of The Power is our world, but for one twist of nature. Suddenly, and without warning, all teenage girls in the world develop the power to electrocute people at will. It’s hereditary, it’s inbuilt, and it can’t be taken away from them. Coming alive to the thrill of pure power: the ability to hurt or even kill by releasing electrical jolts from their fingertips, they rapidly learn they can awaken the Power in older women. Soon enough nearly every woman in the world can do it. And then everything is different. 

The subversive, multi-stranded narrative follows a series of characters including  Allie, a vulnerable American foster kid who reinvents herself as a faith leader;  Roxy, the daughter of a London crime boss, who revels in her new abilities; Tunde, a Nigerian journalist reporting on seismic global change; and Margot Cleary – Lopez (Leslie Mann), Mayor of Seattle; loving wife and doting mother to three kids. At least that’s what her official campaign website would tell you.

Margot is an American politician on the rise and until now, not only a woman in a man’s world, but one with a questionable taste in jackets according to online trolls. Vital, charming and incredibly smart, Margot comes to see that power resides with strength rather than authority. As her career takes flight, it’s her husband Rob and daughter Jos who privately feel the effects of her success most keenly; for one of them, where previously there was conflict now comes a greater understanding, and for the other where there was love, comes hurt and betrayal.

Over the first season, the series will follow its cast of remarkable characters from London to Seattle, Nigeria to Moldova, as the ‘Power’ evolves from a tingle in teenagers’ collarbones to a complete reversal of the power balance of the world. The Day of the Girls has arrived – but where will it end?

Naomi Alderman’s novel, The Power,was included in President Barack Obama’s list of his favourite books from 2017 and went on to win the 2017 Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction as well as being longlisted for the 2017 Orwell Prize. Already translated into more than twenty-five languages, The Power has found global appeal across the world.

The Power is produced by Sister and executive produced by Jane Featherstone (Chernobyl/Giri/Haji, The Split), Naomi de Pear (Don’t Forget the Driver, The Bisexual, Flowers), Naomi Alderman, and Reed Morano (The Handmaid’s Tale). The series is produced by Tim Bricknell (Trust, Taboo) and is the latest UK produced Amazon Original series.

The Power will join the thousands of TV shows and movies in the Prime Video catalogue, including UK produced Amazon Original series such as Good Omens, The Grand Tour and All or Nothing: Manchester City, and award winning and critically acclaimed global Amazon Original series including Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan, The Boys, Homecoming and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,all on Prime Video, which is available at no extra cost for Prime members.

Prime members will be able to watch all episodes of The Power anywhere and anytime on the Prime Video app for smart TVs, mobile devices, Fire TV, Fire TV stick, Fire tablets, games consoles, on Virgin’s V6 TV Box, the Talk Talk TV set top box, Apple TV, Chromecast, BT TV or online at www.amazon.co.uk/primevideo. In the Prime Video app, Prime members can download episodes on their mobile devices and tablets and watch anywhere offline at no additional cost. Prime Video is available in the UK and Ireland at no extra cost to a Prime membership for just £7.99 a month or £79 per year. New customers can find out more at  amazon.co.uk/prime and subscribe to a free 30-day trial.

ENDS

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About Sister
Sister, formed on September 30th 2019 by Liz Murdoch, Stacey Snider and Jane Featherstone is a global production and development company. The storytelling triumvirate share a mutual ambition to build a modern, international company that champions exceptional, visionary talent. Sister will harness its co-founders’ collective expertise in film and television, their track records and a shared commitment to creating break out narrative content for multiple platforms.

Forthcoming titles include, series two of Emmy Award winning writer Abi Morgan’s The Split (BBC One/ Sundance AMC) Giri/Haji for BBC Two/ Netflix and Adam Kay’s adaptation of his international best-seller This Is Going To Hurt for the BBC.

About Leslie Mann
Leslie Mann has entertained audiences and critics with her standout performances in over 25 wildly successful feature films, including Kay Cannon’s comedy “Blockers,” alongside John Cena and Ike Barinholtz, as well as Taylor Hackford’s “The Comedian,” alongside Robert DeNiro and Harvey Keitel, for Sony Pictures Classics. Mann most recently starred opposite Steve Carell in Robert Zemeckis’ heroic drama “Welcome to Marwen,” and can next be seen Edward Norton’s thriller “Motherless Brooklyn” alongside Bruce Willis, Bobby Cannavale, and Alec Baldwin, which will be released this November by Warner Bros. Pictures. Next year, Mann will star as Elvira in a screen adaptation of Noel Coward’s play “Blithe Spirit,” alongside Dan Stevens, Isla Fischer, and Judi Dench.

In 2012, Mann’s standout performance opposite Paul Rudd as Debbie in Judd Apatow’s “This Is 40” garnered her a Critics’ Choice Awards nomination for “Best Actress in a Comedy.” The movie reunites the characters from the award-winning blockbuster “Knocked Up,” with Mann and Rudd reprising their roles from the earlier film.

Other feature films for Mann include “The Cable Guy,” “Vacation,” “The Bling Ring,” “The Change Up,” “I Love You Phillip Morris,” “17 Again,” “Big Daddy,” “Little Birds,” “George of the Jungle,” “Timecode,” “She’s the One,” “Stealing Harvard,” “Drillbit Taylor,” “Orange County,” “Funny People,” and “The 40 Year Old Virgin.”

Mann, Apatow, and their two daughters currently reside in Los Angeles.

About Naomi Alderman  - Creator and Executive Producer
Naomi Alderman was educated at Oxford University and UEA. The Power is her fifth novel. She has won numerous awards including the Orange Award for New Writers, the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year, the Prix Rèpublique and the FutureBook Innovation Award.  Her first novel Disobedience was recently adapted into a feature-length film by Oscar-winning director Sebastián Lelio, starring Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams. The Power was listed for the Orwell Prize for Political Writing and won the Baileys Prize for Fiction in 2017.

Naomi has worked as a games writer and narrative designer for over a decade. She was the lead writer on the award-winning alternate reality game Perplex City and is the lead writer of the smartphone app and podcast The Walk. In 2012 she co-created the top-selling fitness game and audio adventure Zombies, Run! which has been downloaded millions of times and remains a market-leader.

Naomi presents Science Stories – a programme about the history of science on BBC Radio 4 and is a member of the XPRIZE Sci-Fi Advisory Council. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Bath Spa University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, has been mentored by Margaret Atwood as part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative, and in 2013 was named one of Granta’s Best British Novelists in their once-a-decade list.

About Reed Morano (Director)
Reed Morano recently made history with her pilot of The Handmaid’ Tale as the first woman ever to win both the DGA Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in a Dramatic Series and the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama for the same body of work. She was the first woman to win the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Drama Series category in 22 years.

As well as her pilot of THE HANDMAID’S TALE receiving a total of 13 Emmy nominations and 8 wins, including Outstanding Drama Series, in the same year, Reed was also nominated for an Emmy for her cinematography on the pilot of DIVORCE for HBO.

Reed’s feature films, I THINK WE’RE ALONE NOW, and MEADOWLAND, have also won the Special Jury Prize for Excellence in Filmmaking at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, the prestigious Dolby Atmos grant, an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Cinematography and also landed her on Indiewire’s 20 Best Breakthrough Directors of 2015. The Rhythm Section, starring Blake Lively is due for release in 2020.

About Jane Featherstone  (Executive Producer and Co-Founder of Sister)
As the former chief executive of Kudos and co-chairman of Shine UK, Jane oversaw the production of some of the UK’s most ground-breaking and best-loved dramas.  From BAFTA-winning television series Broadchurch, Humans, Life on Mars and Flowers, through to Hustle, Spooks, The Hour and River, Featherstone’s pioneering vision brought quality drama to the mainstream whilst growing Kudos into one of the UK’s most recognisable and formidable indies.

Departing Kudos in 2014, Jane then founded Sister Pictures (in which Murdoch became a minority shareholder) in November 2015 as an independent television production company specialising in authored, bold and distinctive stories for UK and international audiences. The indie, has in four years, grown to be one of the leading, international drama producers. The recent world-wide phenomenon and winner of 10 Emmy Awards including Outstanding Limited Series, Chernobyl (HBO/ Sky Atlantic), adds to the critical and audience acclaim the company has achieved for its work, which includes The Split (BBC One/ Sundance AMC) Cleaning Up (ITV), Flowers S2 (Channel 4) and Don’t Forget the Driver (BBC Two).

About Naomi de Pear (Executive Producer)
Naomi is an Executive Producer within Sister Pictures. Through her label within the company, Hootenanny, she made BAFTA-nominated Flowers by Will Sharpe and Desiree Akhavan’s The Bisexual for C4 and Hulu, and Venice TV Award Winning Don’t Forget The Driver, for BBC2. Current projects include This is Going to Hurt, based on Adam Kay’s hit book and. She’s previously worked on Spooks, Humans, Tin Star, Abi Morgan’s Emmy- winning The Hour and as Associate Producer of River.

About Timothy Bricknell (Producer)
Tim is an award-winning producer who has produced both feature films and television including the Peabody Award-winning HBO/BBC series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency, and the BAFTA-winning Taboo, Eric & Ernie and The Fear, as well as From There To Here, Churchill’s Secret and, most recently, Trust for FX.