‘Dear Edward’: The Big Difference Between the Apple TV+ Series and Ann Napolitano’s Best-Selling Novel
Apple TV+ has made waves with its original series offerings. It proved its mettle in the drama category with The Morning Show and swept multiple awards categories for its comedy Ted Lasso. Both are approaching their third seasons. The network has also delved into the sci-fi genre with Severance and continues to expand its offerings.
Now, the streaming service is hoping to prove it can deliver a heartfelt, poignant tear-jerker in Dear Edward, a series based on a book of the same title. And it’s drawing comparisons to the emotions in This Is Us. Even the drama’s creator Jason Katims teared up in the editing room.
Though the show is based heavily on the bestselling novel by Ann Napolitano, Katims diverts from the original work in a few key ways to make it pop on the screen.
Jenna Bush Hager featured ‘Dear Edward’ in her book club
Napolitano’s book published in 2020 and tells the story of a 12-year-old boy who survives a devastating plane crash that kills every other passenger, including the rest of his family. The novel switches between the process Edward undergoes to rebuild his life while still grieving, along with the stories of other people whose loved ones died in the crash.
The book and movie get their title from the piles of letters people write to Edward, encouraging him and sometimes processing their own loss or grief.
The novel became an almost-instant hit when Jenna Bush Hager selected it for her book club on the Today show. “The theme or the message that I took away is really about shared humanity, about goodness, about faith, about finding redemption and grace even after the unthinkable, and that’s what Edward does,” Hager explained.
The Apple TV+ series includes a new character played by Connie Britton
Though the Apple TV+ series stays fairly true to the novel, Katims put his own touches on the show.
“What I was interested in telling was a story about resilience,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “A story about people coming back from something that was very hard.” Katims created a new character, Dee Dee, a wealthy woman who loses her husband in the plane crash. When casting the role, he thought of Connie Britton, whom he’d worked with on Friday Night Lights.
“There was something about this character that just made me smile,” Katims said. “I was driving into work and I thought of Connie for the role. And the minute that I thought of her, I could never think of this woman as anybody different than Connie.”
The show explores loss but also human connection, growth, and laughter. “In my experience of grief, there has to be humor alongside it,” Britton said. “The grief that I’ve experienced in my life has brought every bit of joy and light that I can possibly muster, the people around me can possibly muster because that’s the counterbalance.”
‘Dear Edward’ creator Jason Katims created room for the story to ‘expand and grow’ for future seasons
The cast of Dear Edward is a well-rounded bunch. Britton is joined by newcomer Colin O’Brien as Edward and Orange Is the New Black’s Taylor Schilling as Edward’s aunt and caregiver after the crash, Lacey. Amy Forsyth (CODA) plays Linda, who loses her boyfriend in the crash and finds out she is pregnant.
Though the first season of the show will stay fairly true to the book, Katims made changes to allow the series to “expand and grow” not only with new characters but leaving the door open for potential future seasons as well.
“It would set up a situation where we would have a story that continues these lives that you want to know more about,” Katims told Deadline. “I always ask myself, ‘Do I want to know more about these characters? Is there more story to tell?’ I definitely feel that way.”
