There's a quinceañera TV show version of Sixteen Candles in the works

The series—developed by Selena Gomez, Tanya Saracho, and Gabriella Revilla Lugo—is heading to Peacock

By Tatiana Tenreyro  |  March 15, 2022 | 8:21pm
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There's a quinceañera TV show version of Sixteen Candles in the works
Molly Ringwald in Sixteen Candles Screenshot: Universal Pictures

John Hughes’ classic Sixteen Candles is getting a “reconfiguration” (we guess that’s what they’re calling things that aren’t quite a remake), with Vida’s Tanya Saracho, Palm Springs executive producer Gabriela Revilla Lugo, and Selena Gomez helming it.

The series, which is heading to Peacock, will be titled 15 Candles instead. As you can probably guess from the people involved, this version will get rid of the problematic aspects from the original film—you know, the racism, apparent sexual assault, and extremely pervy nerds—instead following four Latinas in high school “as they overcome their feelings of invisibility while exploring what it means to leave childhood behind through the lens of the traditional female coming-of-age rite: the quinceañera,” per Deadline.

Both Saracho and Lugo will write the half-hour comedic series and work as executive producers. Gomez will also serve as executive producer, alongside Christine Dávila.

The plot for 15 Candles seemingly has nothing to do with the 1984 film, so it’s a bit of a head-scratcher as to why it’s not being told as an original story instead of being touted as a new version of the Molly Ringwald-led movie.

This also isn’t the first time Sixteen Candles has been revisited, either. In 2003, it was announced that USA Network was developing a sequel to the movie that’d show what Sam, Long Duk Dong, and “Farmer Ted” were up to two decades later.

The sequel didn’t pan out, because Ringwald refused to get involved. In an interview with the Associated Press from 2019, she said, “I’ve turned it down for years. I couldn’t see how it would work.” But there was another attempt after that to make a sequel, one that apparently had a script Ringwald liked, as she said in the same interview. But that one didn’t work out, either.

 
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