Netflix’s Drama Head Jinny Howe Expands Role, Talks ‘Partner Track’, ‘Manifest’, ‘Virgin River’ Future & More Romance With ‘Ransom Canyon’
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Serendipity is a key narrative device in romantic storytelling, and it played a role in Jinny Howe’s 2018 move to Netflix after more than 13 years at John Wells Productions. During her job interview, she professed her love for lush romances, especially from her beloved Jane Austen/Regency era, and after she was hired, she got to work on Bridgerton‘s maiden season as her first project.
She followed the Shondaland Regency romance drama with two female-driven limited series, Shondaland’s Inventing Anna and John Wells Prods.’ Maid. Before any of the shows had premiered to become global hits, Howe was promoted in fall 2020 to Head of Drama, Development, overseeing development of all drama series outside of the Spectacle + Event area and those coming out of Netflix’s roster of overall deals.
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As the slate of projects she put in development in that role is starting to hit the platform starting this Friday with Partner Track — which appears on track to get a second season — Howe a couple of months ago received another promotion which has not been made public until now: She was elevated to oversee all of drama, including current series, plus acquisitions and licensed content, adding shows like Virgin River Season 5, Firefly Lane Season 2 and Manifest Season 4 to her purview. (Renate Redford, who had been overseeing current drama series, has moved over to shepherd overall deals with Nne Ebong, who is on a maternity leave.)
Virgin River meets Yellowstone in Ransom Canyon
As Virgin River, based on Robyn Carr’s romance novels, is filming its fifth season (more on that in a bit), Howe and her team are betting on another contemporary romance book series, Jodi Thomas’ Ransom Canyon, to potentially become Netflix’s next hit in the genre.
“It’s a contemporary Western romance show, just looking for more in this comfort romance space,” Howe said. “It’s a multi-generational family show set on a ranch, and we say it’s Virgin River meets Yellowstone. We think that it’s going to deliver on all the romance and again it will be a really beautiful vista and setting, very escapist. It is in development in early stages, but we’re very excited about it; it feels very promising.”
It is not surprising that Netflix would be looking to replicate the success of Virgin River, whose current fourth season amassed 277 million hours viewed in its first 28 days, on par with Season 3, and held the top spot in the streamer’s Top 10 for two weeks. (Overall, Virgin River, which was expanded from 10 to 12 episodes in Season 4 — a rarity for a Netflix drama series — has been in the streamer’s Global Top 10 for 10 weeks in more than 70 countries over its four seasons to date.)
While its haul fell outside Netflix’s all-time Top 10 season openings for English-languages series, with its simple, contemporary setting in a confined area, relatively small core cast and Canadian filming location, Virgin River has some of the most attractive economics for a TV series with a very high return on investment as it costs a lot less to make than special effect-heavy productions like Stranger Things or The Witcher or a lavish period piece like Bridgerton, which are among Netflix’s all-time Top 10 most popular series.
Virgin River Season 5… And Beyond?
There was no learning curve for romance buff Howe in taking over Virgin River. “I was not with it from the beginning in terms of as an executive, but I’ve been with it from the beginning as a fan,” she said.
Netflix
There has been a major behind-the-scene change heading into Season 5, with Patrick Sean Smith taking the helm from original showrunner Sue Tenney. But when it comes to the show’s on-screen storytelling and feel, “Season 5 is going to continue to stay true to what fans have loved about the show from the beginning; it feels like a community that we all belong to and that we’re all a part of, it’s very comforting, it gives you hope, and I think all of that is stuff that people can’t get enough of these days,” Howe said. “I think what’s going to be interesting is to see this universe continue to grow and expand and to see new characters, other characters return. A lot of that was set up in the Season 4 finale but it’s going to be really exciting to see all of that come to a head in Season 5. And some of the soap that’s going to come out of these new complex tensions and triangles.”
For the initiated, for a second consecutive season, Virgin River‘s finale ended with a classic soap cliffhanger pertaining to the paternity of an unborn baby/(-ies) in a series that has been rife with love triangles.
Virgin River is currently renewed through Season 5 as part of a two-season pickup but may go beyond that.
“I think we definitely see more longevity and growth with the show,” Howe said. “As long as the audience asks for it and shows up — and I think we see with Season 4 that the fandom is very strong and growing in many places as well — it feels like based on what we’re seeing with Season 4 and the anticipation for Season 5 that there is a lot more storytelling to offer us. It will be exciting to see which characters continue to break out and audiences crave more of; we’re paying very close attention, understanding that this is a really rich universe of characters and that people can’t seem to get enough, myself included. So I think as long as that continues to be the case — which we’re very hopeful for — you can rest assured that there will be more Virgin River.”
One area in which Virgin River has not excelled is diversity. The series has made strides in recent seasons, adding new characters of color as well as an LGBTQ character in Season 4.
“Without getting specific, I will say that that continues to be a focus,” Howe said. “Some of our early casting conversations for Season 5, I think it’s fair to say that that is going to continue to be a focus and something the audience will get to experience more in Season 5. It’s definitely a priority, and I think you will see, as we expand the Virgin River community, that there will be more diversity and inclusion.”
That has been an important issue for Howe, who has been a champion for on-screen representation as well as underrepresented voices and storytellers throughout her career. That is evident in such shows she has worked on as Bridgerton Season 1; Partner Track, a romantic comedy-drama headlined by Arden Cho, which she put in development; as well as The Lincoln Lawyer, headlined by Manuel Garcia-Rulfo; the upcoming romantic drama limited series From Scratch, starring Zoe Saldana; and Beef, starring Steven Yeun and Ali Wong, which had just been set up at the streamer when she took them on.
“You’re going to see us continue to bet forward with first-time creators, such as Attica Locke on From Scratch or Sung-Jin Lee on Beef, Georgia Lee on Partner Track,” she said. “It’s also organic, on Lincoln Lawyer, we’re going back to Mickey’s Latinx roots and representation. That’s true to the character, and that’s what I think helps set us apart as a Netflix show, that we get to double down and lean in to that type of representation and know that our members are really excited about that.”
Partner Track Looks To Break Glass Ceiling & Go To Season 2
Partner Track stars Cho as Ingrid Yun, an idealistic young Korean American lawyer who struggles with her moral compass and her passions as she fights to climb the partner track at an elite New York City law firm. Howe was not familiar with Helen Wan’s novel when she first started developing the TV adaptation by Georgia Lee but then quickly devoured it.
“Obviously, I relate to it on a very personal level in many ways, but the thing that resonated for me was this great blend of personal-professional tension, the romance within that book,” said Howe, whose family arrived in the U.S. in 1978 from Seoul. “I feel the series has done a great job in keeping that tension alive from the book. That’s something that really resonated with me, and I think fans of the book will be excited to see it really vividly in the series.”
Here an exclusive Partner Track featurette:
In addition to romance, friendships and office politics, Partner Track examines the topic of diversity and inclusion — and lack thereof — in corporate America through a prominent storyline.
Said Howe: “I think a lot of this is drawn from a very personal place, from Georgia’s experience in these white-shoe firms, and there has been a tremendous amount of conversation about what is the right way to represent these issues in the world of our show because it is a balance — there’s a lot of fun, there’s a lot of aspiration and romance — but what makes it feel like a show you haven’t seen before because we’re telling it through the lens of Ingrid Yun.”
The Season 1 finale ends with a major cliffhanger that signals a potential second season, and Howe hinted that fans won’t be left hanging.
“We are really excited. We have early thoughts about what Season 2 might be; I know that our creator Georgia Lee has a very strong perspective on what Season 2 would be,” Howe said. “So yes, we are an early conversations considering how excited we are are about how Season 1 turned out.”
Netflix
A series that recently premiered successfully and already earned a second season renewal is The Lincoln Lawyer, David E, Kelley’s adaptation of Michael Connelly’s novels. Based on the fourth book in series, The Fifth Witness, the new season has Dailyn Rodriguez joining Ted Humphrey as new co-showrunner.
“Season 2, I think it’s going to look to deliver more on what fans love from Season 1,” Howe said. “I think it will be very exciting to see how Mickey’s ongoing personal drama will continue to unfold in terms of his personal life, and some of his demons as well. L.A. is a character in the piece, a great visual, but also cultural backdrop; I think we’ll be leaning more into that as well.”
Howe called Lincoln Lawyer “a great example of an area that we want to continue to build great shows in.” “I think it’s a great take on a procedural that feels like the Netflix version of something that’s very character-driven, a very satisfying. case and serialized case as well,” she said. “So you will be seeing more from us in this space, and it was really encouraging to see how many people globally really embraced the show.”
Coming Up: New Seasons Of Firefly Lane, You & Manifest
Following Partner Track are the premieres of From Scratch, based on Tambi Locke’s real-life love story, in October, and Season 2 of Firefly Lane, starring Katherine Heigl and Sarah Chalke as lifelong friends, later this year. Also coming up are Season 4 of Manifest and You, which both started as licensed series before becoming Netflix originals.
On Firefly Lane Season 2: It “is really going to deliver on all of the emotions, all the feels, as I say,” Howe said. “It’s a really, really beautiful season, Katherine and Sarah, their dynamic is so, so strong, so I’m really excited to have fans return to that show.”
Everett
On London-set Season 4 of You: “I think what’s really exciting about that show is audiences are so invested in Joe (Penn Badgley) that they will follow him wherever he goes. I think the creators do a great job in making every season feel true to the original but also reinventing so it is very exciting for us to see Joe playing in a different sandbox. It’s not going to disappoint, and I think we really are looking to deliver on on being in the UK, being in London in a way that will feel fresh.”
There has been no official information yet on the new season of Manifest but 828 Day, named after the flight from the series, is coming up this weekend. In was on 8/28 last year that Netflix announced the missing plane drama’s resurrection following its cancellation by NBC. Howe would not confirm whether a premiere date news and/trailer will drop then, but indicated “a couple of announcements” are coming “very soon.”
“I think Manifest is a really fun show that has so many different entry points and such a great ensemble of characters,” Howe said. “It might be a show that you wouldn’t have normally expected from Netflix drama, but for us, it just feels like a best-in-class, hybrid, character driven-procedural show. For me, the thing that I really love is watching how many different conversations, fans spending all the time talking about how the show’s going to end, and how people go back and re-watch for clues; all of that is really a lot of fun and I think really drives more and more people to watch the show.”
Peter Kramer/NBC
Fueled by those conversations, the existing three seasons of Manifest have spent the past several weeks firmly in Netflix’s weekly Top 10 for English-language series.
The streamer previously rescued another canceled broadcast series, Lucifer, and gave it a fifth and final season only to then order an additional sixth season, which became the last one. So, is Manifest really ending with its supersized fourth season?
“That is the plan currently, at least in terms of whether there will be a satisfying resolution going into the season. By the end of the season, we’ll deliver some answers that’s really, all the questions will be answered,” Howe said.
Currently in production under Howe’s purview are new series The Diplomat, starring Keri Russell from Deborah Cahn, whom Howe signed to an overall deal; Beef; XO Kitty, a series spinoff from the To All the Boys film franchise; and fellow heart-warming, family YA series in the comfort romance area, My Life with the Walter Boys.
“I feel really, really confident that these are going to delight and entertain and that’s really all we’re looking to do,” Howe said of her initial slate as head of drama development. “It’s really, how do we entertain people? I do feel like that’s been the priority, and I think you’re going to really see that with this next set of shows.”
More Period Romance?
Netflix
There are no other series based on Netflix original movies currently in the works. But the streamer may tackle other period romance books following the success of Bridgerton, which is now filming Season 3, with a much buzzed about Queen Charlotte prequel from Shonda Rhimes in post-production. (Because of how Netflix’s programming operation is structured, Shondaland’s slate is being handled by the overall deal team, which Howe was initially part of until her 2020 promotion to Head of Drama, Development, so she has not been involved in Bridgerton beyond Season 1 and any other Shondaland series besides Inventing Anna.)
Netflix recently revisited the Regency romance area on the film side with the Dakota Johnson-starring adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, which Howe said she really enjoyed. While the Bridgerton likely has the Regency era covered, its blockbuster success, with Season 2 and Season 1 ranking as Netflix’s No. 2 and No. 3 all-time English-language openers, has Howe’s team looking at other periods.
“What that has done is [show] that there is a hunger for this type of programming and that there is a very, very avid period, romance audience that I consider myself a part of that is looking for more,” Howe said. “Maybe it’s not going to specifically be Regency, but we talk a lot about how we continue to keep that audience satisfied. Maybe it’s a different period that we’re talking about, but just understanding a female lens on some of these conventionally male sort of genres like Westerns and such is really fun and emboldens us to go there and think outside the box.”
As she remains committed to the romance genre, Howe dismisses the notion that, while shows like Bridgerton and Virgin River received a big boost during the pandemic when viewers were craving escapist fare, that may no longer be the case after the world reopened and people started to resume normal life.
“I think we’re always looking for a really varied and diverse slate of programming but I think that this sort of comfort romance, escapist fare is something that I think any of us can relate to, especially at the end of a very long week, being very happy to lose ourselves in,” Howe said. “So this will always continue to be a priority on our slate, and I think that we are going to continue to look for new opportunities given that Virgin River is going into Season 5, understanding that there is an audience there that that craves this type of content, pandemic or otherwise. I think these shows stand on their own, and I think you will certainly continue to see these shows offered by our slate.”
While a major portion of Howe’s slate is female-centric, there are also muscular, action driven dramas coming up like the Arnold Schwarzenegger-starring untitled spy adventure series. (Additionally, there are male-skewing genre shows coming from the Spectacle+ Event area.)
Licensing All American: Homecoming & Looking For an NCIS
One of Howe’s first moves on the licensing front was a deal for the All American: Homecoming, the first CW show to get on Netflix after the 2019 end of the network’s output deal. All American, the CW’s flagship series created by All American showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll, has been among Netflix’s top off-network draws.
The CW
“I think given how well All American, the original series, has performed for us and knowing that we have a really avid fan base for the mothership show, I think it felt like an exciting opportunity for us to jump into Homecoming,” Howe said. “It’s proven out that a lot of that existing fan base has poured over to Homecoming, and obviously we have such a great relationship with the producers, with Warners and Nkechi, that It felt like a really, really great swing for us to take. I love that we’re getting to have such a specific lens on an HBCU; it’s just something that was missing from our slate, and this felt like a great show to serve to our members.”
On the licensing/acquisition front, Howe is open to classic procedurals like NCIS or Criminal Minds, which have done extremely well on the platform.
“What we’ve been telling the town is, we are looking for best in class, we’re looking for shows that we’ll have a lot of conversation amongst members about and really [impact] the culture in an exciting way,” Howe said. “We’re being really mindful what that looks like for us in the procedural space but we are thinking about Manifest, thinking about All American on the licensing side, understanding that these shows are Netflix shows as well and that our audiences want to come to Netflix to see those shows as well. So wanting to make sure that the town also knows that we are really, really interested in an NCIS we talk about Law & Order: SVU, just shows that we as fans have loved over the years and would be excited to explore at Netflix.”
With two promotions in as many years, Howe is taking the latest expansion of her responsibilities in stride.
“Even though they are big changes, for me personally, I do think that it’s been rather seamless because so much of the lens has been audience and programming,” she said. “Current shows have lived across the larger drama fleet that I’ve been a part of from the beginning, so it has felt very organic for me to step into those shows. With licensing, this is something that admittedly is newer for me, but I think is really exciting. And I think that it’s a great opportunity to also make sure that my programming lens is encompassing larger aspects of our business. Ultimately, we’re talking about how to satisfy members; it should be about the best show winning.”
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