Elle Fanning to Play Michelle Carter in Hulu’s ‘The Girl From Plainville’

By Claire Spellberg @c_spellberg
Published Aug. 7, 2020, 1:00 p.m. ET

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The story of Michelle Carter, defendant in the controversial “texting-suicide” case, is coming to the screen once again. Hulu has ordered The Girl From Plainville, a drama series starring Elle Fanning as Carter, the teen convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the 2014 death of boyfriend Conrad Roy III. The new series will explore Carter’s relationship with Roy, the events that led to his death, and later, her highly-publicized trial.

The Girl From Plainville is based off a 2017 Esquire article of the same name by journalist Jesse Barron, who covered Carter’s case for years. Barron serves as a consulting producer on the series alongside Erin Lee Carr, the filmmaker behind HBO’s two-part documentary I Love You, Now Die: The Commonwealth vs. Michelle Carter.

Written by Liz Hannah (The Post, The Dropout) and Patrick McManus (Dr. Death), who also serve as co-showrunners and executive producers on the project, the drama series will depict Carter (Fanning) and Roy’s rocky relationship and the events that led to his death. In 2017, Carter was convicted by a Massachusetts judge of involuntary manslaughter for encouraging Roy, over text messages and phone calls, to commit suicide. Carter’s legal team repeatedly appealed, and in 2019, her attorneys petitioned the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, but justices declined to hear the case. The Massachusetts native began her 15-month prison sentence in February 2019; she was released in January 2020 due to good behavior.

In addition to Hannah and McManus, Fanning and Echo Lake’s Brittany Kahan Ward will serve as executive producers. Kelly Funke will also oversee for McManus’ Littleton Road Productions.

The Girl From Plainville is produced by UCP, a division of Universal Studios Group, which optioned rights to Barron’s article in August 2019. “Partnering with Jesse and Erin on adapting this true crime into a drama series allows us to dive deeper into the events surrounding one of the most controversial trials in recent history,” said Dawn Olmstead, UCP president, at the time. “They have already done an incredible job in illuminating this compelling and complicated story.”