A New Netflix Series Is Headed to the Upper East Side

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A book set among the Upper East Side’s most exclusive families is headed back to screens — and this time, it’s getting the prestige streaming treatment, with a familiar name producing behind the scenes.

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Netflix is developing a new adaptation of The Nanny Diaries, the 2002 bestseller by Emma McLaughlin and Nicola Kraus that became a cultural touchstone for its depiction of wealthy Manhattan families and the young women hired to raise their children. Scarlett Johansson, who played the lead role of Annie in the 2007 film version, will executive produce the series, per a report from Deadline.

The series will be written and run by Amy Chozick, a former New York Times reporter and author of the memoir Chasing Hillary, and Jenny Bicks, a longtime television writer whose credits include all six seasons of HBO’s Sex and the City. The two will also serve as executive producers.

The story follows Annie, a young, cash-strapped aspiring writer who takes a nanny job working for an alluring Upper East Side socialite and her family. She’s pulled into a glittering world of extreme wealth — then lands a book deal to go undercover and expose what she sees. Things grow complicated as she becomes attached to the family she’s secretly writing about and begins to suspect her boss of something more sinister.

Greg Berlanti’s Berlanti Productions is producing alongside These Pictures and Spyglass Media Group, with Warner Bros. Television serving as the studio. Berlanti and Johansson, who worked together on the 2024 film Fly Me to the Moon, first discussed adapting the book into a series during that shoot.

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The original novel, written by two former Upper East Side nannies, has been translated into more than 20 languages. The 2007 feature film also starred Laura Linney, Paul Giamatti, and a pre-Captain America Chris Evans.

Netflix has been leaning heavily into book adaptations. Titles based on books reportedly drove more than 9 billion global views on the platform in 2025 and accounted for nearly 20 percent of total view hours. Upcoming literary adaptations on the streamer include takes on East of Eden, Pride and Prejudice, and Little House on the Prairie.

No premiere date or casting details for the new series have been announced.

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