Hillary Clinton alternate history series Rodham in development at Hulu
By Lacy Baugher
Hulu is set to produce a television adaptation of Curtis Sittenfeld’s Rodham, an alternate history novel based on the idea that Hillary Rodham never married Bill Clinton.
Streaming network Hulu has optioned the rights to Rodham, the latest novel from best-selling author Curtis Sittenfeld. This story imagines an alternate history of the United States based on one key moment – Hillary Rodham never said yes to Bill Clinton’s marriage proposal.
Hulu brought us the four-part documentary series Hillary earlier this year, which chronicled Clinton’s bid for the White House, interspersed with significant events from her past that helped shape the woman she became. Rodham will take a more fantastical approach, imagining what might have happened to her life – and to our country – had she never married the man who is now her husband.
Clinton herself recounts the story of Bill’s proposal in her memoir Living History – she famously turned him down twice before she said yes the third time. In Rodham, that third attempt turns out quite a bit differently, and that changes everything.
At its heart, the book Rodham is a story about an ambitious woman, and the uncomfortable relationship American society has with both the idea of feminism and the fact of women in power. (It’s also, quite frankly, a bit of Clinton fanfiction, but part of the reason her story still resonates today is that there are so many elements that feel so familiar – especially to women.)
The question of whether we have the right to keep mining Clinton’s life – and heartbreaking political defeat – for our own entertainment remains up in the air. (But it’s certainly a conversation worth having when this show hits our screens.)
Rodham will be adapted for the screen by Sarah Treem, who was most recently the co-creator and showrunner on Showtime’s critically-acclaimed series “The Affair,” another show about complex and potentially toxic relationships. Sittenfeld will serve as a co-executive producer.