Jessica Fletcher is headed back to Cabot Cove, this time on the big screen with Jamie Lee Curtis at the typewriter. For fans of Angela Lansbury, who died four years ago today, the news lands as a thrill and a tug at the heart all at once.
Lansbury died peacefully in her sleep at her Los Angeles home on October 11, 2022, the Lansbury family said in a statement shared by her three children. She was 96, just five days shy of her 97th birthday. Born in London on October 16, 1925, she built a career that stretched across more than eight decades, ABC7 noted.
Angela Lansbury And The Woman From Cabot Cove
Murder, She Wrote premiered on CBS in 1984 and ran for 12 seasons, wrapping in 1996. Lansbury played Jessica Fletcher, a widowed former substitute teacher who wrote mystery novels in a small Maine town. PBS NewsHour pointed out that the show was loosely based on Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple stories.
The first season was grueling. Lansbury later admitted she was shocked to learn the job meant 12 to 15 hours a day on set, day in and day out. She also said Jessica became an inspiration for older women. The role brought her Emmy nomination after Emmy nomination, though she never won a competitive Emmy.
A New Jessica Fletcher Is On The Way
Universal is developing a feature film with Curtis as Jessica. Jason Moore, who directed Pitch Perfect, is attached to direct from a script by Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo, TVLine reported. Amy Pascal, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller are producing.
The studio first slated the movie for December 22, 2027. It has since moved to February 4, 2028, according to JoBlo and ComingSoon. Plot details remain under wraps.
Long before Cabot Cove, Lansbury was already a Broadway force. She won Tony Awards for Mame in 1966 and Sweeney Todd in 1979, and she collected her fifth at 83 for a 2009 revival of Blithe Spirit. A whole new generation met her in 1991 as the warm voice of Mrs. Potts in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
