‘Desperate Housewives’ Creator Wants to Do a Wisteria Lane Prequel Series Set in 1966

“The character I miss writing the most is actually Wisteria Lane. That was the most fun playground anyone in the history of television has ever had,” Marc Cherry says

"Desperate Housewives" (Credit: ABC)
"Desperate Housewives" (Credit: ABC)

“Desperate Housewives” creator Marc Cherry has put some thought into a spinoff of the ABC hit set in 1966.

While talking with People in an interview published Wednesday, Cherry admitted mulling over a number of ways he could continue telling stories on Wisteria Lane – which he said he missed writing about as much as any of the characters. One specific idea that’s kept cropping up is a prequel series set in the 1960s.

“I would probably want to do the idea maybe in an earlier decade,” Cherry said. “Because the character I miss writing the most is actually Wisteria Lane. That was the most fun playground anyone in the history of television has ever had, because we owned the whole street. I know that street like the back of my hand. When someone shoots a commercial on that street, I know it instantly, because I know all those houses, I know the geography. It was such a fun place to write for. And there’s times when I go, ‘You know what? I wonder if I could write Wisteria Lane in like, 1966.’”

He added that he sometimes considers what a full reboot of the series would look like now with the accumulated wisdom he’s gained in the years since the show was first on the air.

“I started to go back and go, ‘OK, this was why that worked, or this is my approach to this,’” Cherry said. “I did some things right the first season that were intuitive, more than intellectual. And I feel like if I ever got a chance to do that show again, I’d be better at the job. I learned so much.”

Whatever plan Cherry lands on, he remains firm that using the same cast as the original series likely wouldn’t work – despite the fact that he’s continued to stay in touch with them through the years. “Desperate Housewives” boasted a cast led by Eva Longoria, Felicity Huffman, Marcia Cross and Teri Hatcher.

“I’m grateful to them,” he said. “You can write a really great script, but unless you get the right actors to say the words correctly, it doesn’t make much of a difference. I’ve had a couple of pilots where I don’t think I got the right cast, but in that one, the casting gods were with me. I lucked out.”

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