Are you ready for a ‘gritty,’ dystopian TV version of Louisa May Alcott’s ‘Little Women’?

Four sisters stumble on a conspiracy while trying to survive in a dystopian version of Philadelphia. If that sounds like your idea of great television, you’ll love the upcoming CW network adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.”

Deadline reports that Alexis Jolly will write the “hyper-stylized, gritty” version of the classic novel, which, Alcott fans will note, does not involve either a conspiracy or an urban hellscape. The show will be produced by Jolly, Tiffany Grant and actor Michael Weatherly (“NCIS”).

The series will follow the March sisters as they “band together in order to survive the dystopic streets of Philadelphia and unravel a conspiracy that stretches far beyond anything they have ever imagined — all while trying not to kill each other in the process.”

It’s a bizarre concept, but one that Alcott might have appreciated. The author preferred horror stories and didn’t want to write “Little Women” in the first place; she thought that kind of novel was “moral pap for the young.”

Reaction to the news online has ranged from stunned disbelief to horrified disbelief. Author and BuzzFeed editor Katie Heaney tweeted, “Men should literally not be able to touch/mess with Little Women, they should be cursed by Louisa May Alcott’s ghost if they try.”

Journalist Alexandra Petri offered a guess about what the show might look like: “*Jo walks in jauntily, pulls off hat* ‘That’s right, I’ve sold my kidney.’ ”

Not everyone is skeptical about the show, however. Writer Sady Doyle noted that Alcott “hated” her most famous book, adding, “Personally, I think gritty ‘Little Women’ is a great idea. I always wanted Beth to die in a knife fight.”

There’s no word yet on casting or a possible release date, so Alcott fans who always wanted to see Jo and Meg at each other’s throats in a post-apocalyptic metropolis will have to wait a little longer.

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