Apple TV+ greenlights adaptation of Garth Risk Hallberg’s ‘City on Fire’

Apple has given a nod to a new series based on Garth Risk Hallberg’s novel, City on Fire. The series will be released in eight episodes on Apple TV+ and will be created by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage who are known for making shows like Gossip Girl, Nancy Drew, Dynasty, The Astronaut Wives Club and more.

City on Fire was named as one of the best books of 105 by the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times and Vogue. The plot of the novel starts with the shooting of a New York University student named Samanth at Central Park on July 4 in 2003.

The investigation of the murder becomes hard as Samantha Cicciaro was alone, there were no witnesses and there’s very little physical evidence. Samantha left from a downtown club, where her friend’s band was playing, saying that she had to meet someone and that she would return soon. But she never does. As the investigation continues on Samantha’s murder, it becomes clear that she is a crucial link between a series of mysterious citywide fires that happened, the downtown music scene and a wealthy real estate family whose secrets were being unravelled.

City on Fire is the first series order to take birth from a first look deal with Apple signed by Schwartz and Savage under their banner - Fake Empire Productions. All the eight episodes of the series will be written by Schwartz and Savage, who will also serve as executive producers and showrunners for the series.