Screenwriter Lena Waithe (Master of None, The Chi, Twenties) is reportedly developing a drama series at Amazon based on open-marriage, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The writer signed a deal with the platform in 2019 and has just completed a draft of a pilot script with the working title Open.
The most recent project on mainstream TV about nontraditional marriages came from Ryan Murphy (American Horror Story, Glee), who attempted to create a similar series with HBO in 2014, however, it was eventually scrapped. Under her Amazon contract, Waithe is working on several different projects, including the anthology series Them: Covenant which follows a Black couple as they move to a predominantly white community in Los Angeles.
In a statement, Waithe said, “I’ve never been in an open marriage, but it’s fascinating to me. We live in a world where, if I told you I cheated on my wife, you would be like ‘Yeah that’s the way it goes.’ But if I told you that I’m in an open marriage, it would be as if I told you I’m joining the Church of Scientology,” via The Hollywood Reporter.
If her newest project succeeds, Open will be Waithe’s first new series since the 2020 comedy Twenties that she will have under her portfolio as a credited writer. With regards to her writing such a nontraditional series, Waithe states, “Society has such a conservative way of looking at marriage. I do think that we as a nation need to reevaluate what marriage looks like for us as a country–because whatever we have right now, it ain’t working,” per The Hollywood Reporter.