Kait Mae

Nancy Drew is a timeless and iconic sleuth that so many have loved throughout the years. We’ve had countless adaptations with various actresses portraying the character, but my favorite books from several series have flown under the adaptation radar. So, I decided to pull my thoughts about my perfect adaptation into one place.

How Would I Format It?

I’m torn on how early in Nancy Drew’s life we’d start – do we start with the Clue Crew and Girl Detective as a child, Files as a teenager, or straight into the original series with Nancy as a young adult? Regardless of where we start, I’d draw inspiration from long-running shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Law and Order and allow the show to evolve as it runs through its seasons.

I’m also torn between doing 30-minute episodes or hour-long episodes. There are pros and cons to each, but it all depends on where in Nancy’s sleuthing journey we begin. I genuinely see this show as a long-lasting show that could go on for several seasons if given the chance.

In a perfect world, we’d have Nancy as a child starting to become an amateur detective in the Girl Detective and Clue Crew series with 30-minute episodes before lengthening the episodes as she matures into adulthood and gets into darker and twistier mysteries.

I’d also love to modernize the Nancy Drew books from way back when so they feel fresh but still keep the same vibes and mysteries we all fell for.

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What About Past Adaptations?

I’ll be completely honest – I have loved every iteration of Nancy Drew I’ve seen so far. But none have done exactly what I was looking for from adaptations.

My favorite so far was the CW’s adaptation starring Kennedy McMann, but it veered far more into Scooby-Doo territory than Nancy Drew.

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Who Would I Cast?

Each casting choice for the characters (except Hannah Gruen) is dependent on which series we adapt first. But I’ll group them by character instead of timeline, so you can see my choices more clearly.

For Nancy, if we choose to start with her as a child, Ellison Pipe is a great choice. Then, teenage Nancy, for me, would be Hana Hayes, with Maddie Hasson being my choice for a young adult Nancy.

Moving on to Bess Marvin, Nancy’s best friend, Miriam Spumpkin is my choice for Bess as a child. Elodie Grace Orkin is my pick for teenage Bess and young adult Bess is Jessica Belkin.

Rounding out the girls in the friendship, we have George Wayne. I wanted to venture a bit from the official art we’ve seen of her and pick Sunday Curry as the child George, Sofia Bryant as the teenager, and Logan Browning as the young adult George.

Next is Ned Nickerson. If we started with Nancy’s childhood mysteries, Mason Renfro would be perfect. As for teenage and young adult, Niles Fitch and Da’Vinchi would be my picks, respectively.

As for Nancy’s father, his age would depend on how old Nancy would be. So, if Nancy was a child, my pick for her father would be Aaron Paul, with Freddie Prinze Jr. being my pick for a teenage Nancy’s father. And rounding out my Carson Drew picks is Martin Donovan being a father to an adult Nancy.

Last but certainly not least, Hannah Gruen, the Drew’s family housekeeper. Regardless of age, I picked three actresses I think could pull off the role perfectly: Daniella Monet, Vivian Full, and Mary Steenburgen.

It would be a dream to see something like this come to fruition – even more so if I got to help create it. I know I do a lot of articles like this, but it’s because I can’t help but hope these dreams inspire someone to adapt some favorite series and books of mine.

Who would you cast in your perfect Nancy Drew adaptation?