Why the new 'Nancy Drew' is all grown up (and having sex) in CW series

Kelly Lawler

BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. – Nancy Drew is back, and she's not exactly the Nancy you remember.

The iconic girl detective is returning to the screen for a new CW series due this fall, and this version of Nancy (played by Kennedy McMann) is no schoolgirl: She graduated high school but didn't get into college, and is waitressing while she figures out her life. Oh, and she has casual sex with Ned Nickerson (Tunji Kasim).

"The show’s not necessarily designed for 12 year-olds," executive producer Stephanie Savage told the Television Critics Association Sunday. "We’re making the show for the CW and that audience."

The dark series, which mixes supernatural elements into Nancy's solving of mysteries, will certainly fit right in with CW's "Riverdale," another darker, more mature version of a beloved children's story.

"Kids today are very comfortable with understanding that there are multiple iterations of (a story)," Savage says. "You can read a book, you can watch (a movie) ... there’s going to be different actors playing different characters. And what they love is the world of the story and the core character of Nancy Drew and the traits that she embodies of being smart, and brave and curious and wanting to set the world right by figuring out what went wrong."

The series, due Oct. 9, kicks off after Nancy has lost her mother and her life goes off track.

"She’s sort of navigating this extreme loss," McMann says. "She’s extremely lonely. She’s trying to figure out a way to deal with her feelings and is kind of throwing things against the wall. I think that that’s very normal and very relatable, and (sex) is just one way that she’s figuring out how to fill these voids."

"She’s still prim and proper like in the 1930s editions of the book," she adds. "We’re just showing her in a modern setting."

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Nancy Drew' on CW: All grown up and even having sex