Telemystery: ABC Orders Script for a Potential Series Featuring a Contemporary Philip Marlowe

The classic PI created by Raymond Chandler, Philip Marlowe, is being updated into a contemporary Los Angeles setting by the creator of ABC's Castle. ABC has ordered a script for a potential television drama, to be co-written by Andrew Marlow (Air Force One) and his wife Terri Edda Miller.

According to THR, the drama is described as "a smart, sexy and stylish update of Chandler's timeless character" and "follows the investigations of the wisecracking, edgy and rugged private detective, Philip Marlowe, as he navigates the morally complicated world of today's Los Angeles, where the California sun casts long and dangerous shadows, and where true love can be more difficult to find that justice."

Philip Marlowe first appeared in Chandler's The Big Sleep and went on to be featured in a number of short stories and pulp magazines. Robert B. Parker finished Marlowe's last appearance, which was published as Poodle Springs after the author's death.

If ordered to series, this would not be Marlowe's first television appearance. Powers Booth played the character in the ITV series Philip Marlowe, Private Eye in the early 1980s, with storylines adapted from Chandler's short stories. In 1998, HBO produced a film adaptation of Poodle Springs with James Caan starring as Marlowe.