Work · TV series · 2020

The Queen's Gambit

Scott Frank, creator, writer, director · Allan Scott, creator, writer, executive producer

Studio: Netflix
Units: 7 episodes, one miniseries season

A seven-episode limited series adapting Tevis's novel, expanding Beth Harmon's childhood and supporting cast into a fuller coming-of-age arc while keeping her chess career and Moscow ending. Allan Scott held an option on the novel from 1992 before the project reached Netflix with Scott Frank directing every episode.

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Novel 1983 → TV series 2020 · Direct adaptationThe Queen's GambitScott Frank's seven-episode miniseries keeps 31 of the novel's 34 mapped beats in place, condenses two and drops one, and adds seven invented beats, among them a mathematician backstory and a deliberate crash for Beth's mother, a reveal of D.L. Townes's sexuality and a later reunion, and Jolene funding the trip to Moscow.78composite · editorial

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