Irish Immigrant Movie "Brooklyn" to Be Made into TV Spin-Off

Scene from Brooklyn

There is a good chance that you have seen director John Crowley's sweet new film Brooklyn. In fact, you probably have if you are an Oscars purist who wishes to see everything that was nominated in a given year. With three nominations, including Best Picture and Best Actress for star Saoirse Ronan, the film has proven to be an endearing crowd favorite as it follows a young Irish girl traveling to America in the 1950's. However, there's one thing that is likely to please fans of the film: there is a planned TV series to spin-off pretty soon. From the same production company that brought us the film comes a series that is expected to follow a memorable supporting character as she deals with her own life in New York. The one catch? Ronan has not yet announced any plans to be involved with it.

There are a lot of Oscar-nominated films that have been turned into their own TV series. One can look to the recent announcement of The Exorcist, or The Silence of the Lambs spin-off Hannibal that met its end last year. There's also the highly successful M*A*S*H* and Fargo to credit. However, it is rare that there's an announcement, outside of sequels, for an Oscar-nominated film to announce a TV spin-off within that film's Oscar period. If nothing else, Brooklyn's spin-off seems peculiar, especially for how quaint and simple it is compared to more complicated stories like Spotlight or The Big Short. However, the studio that brought us the film has announced plans to release a new TV series based off of Julie Walter's character Mrs. Keogh, who served as the leader of the boarding house where Ronan lives.

The UK-Ireland-Canada company Wildgaze Films has announced that the series will follow her journey in America as she harbors female English and Irish immigrants. The idea has been known as recently as last year's Sundance Film Festival, where the film debuted and various interviews hinted at potential spin-offs. The only catch, besides the details being limited, is that the series may not feature Ronan's character in a prominent role. Of course, very little is known other than that they hope to work on it following the film's finish at the box office. There's no words on its actual release date.

As someone who enjoyed the film, I do think that there's potential for this to be intriguing TV, even if I never thought that it was necessary to follow Mrs. Keogh's story. However, if the series manages to be as endearing as the film was, things could pan out. The only thing that worries me is that the film works mostly from a performance standpoint, as Ronan carries the movie by her sheer charisma and talent. I don't remember too much else of the film being as great as her performance, which has me worried that maybe things won't pan out. However, I do have faith that maybe with some care and the familiar faces returning that things will end up being pretty good. It's only a matter of time of seeing if the series ends up on the better side of Oscar-nominated adaptations, or the worse. Only time will tell.