Anne with an E Information

Anne (titled Anne with an E for international distribution on Netflix) is a Canadian drama television series loosely based on the 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery, and adapted by Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Moira Walley-Beckett. It airs on CBC in Canada, and elsewhere in the world it is available for streaming on Netflix. The first season consists of seven episodes, with Niki Caro directing the 90-minute season premiere. The series premiered on March 19, 2017, on CBC, the season finale airing on April 30, 2017.

On August 3, 2017, both CBC and Netflix renewed the series for a 10-episode second season to premiere in 2018. Season 2 began production in November 2017. Season 2 premiered on Netflix on July 6, 2018, and will premiere on CBC on September 23, 2018.

In August 2018, CBC and Netflix renewed the series for a 10-episode third season to premiere in 2019.

Premise

In the late 19th century, brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, both in their old age, decide to take on an orphan boy to help out around their ancestral farm of Green Gables, on the outskirts of the town of Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island. When Matthew goes to pick the child up at the railway station, he finds not a boy, but a high-spirited and talkative girl, Anne Shirley. At first, the Cuthberts are inclined to send her back, particularly after Marilla's brooch goes missing, and Anne, in despair, runs away. The family reconciles and Anne settles in her new home. Upon starting school, Anne once again displays boundless enthusiasm which is nevertheless easily turned into despair when things go wrong, which they often do. Slowly, her ebullient nature wins over those around her.

Cast

Main

• Amybeth McNulty as Anne Shirley
• Geraldine James as Marilla Cuthbert
• R. H. Thomson as Matthew Cuthbert
• Dalila Bela as Diana Barry
• Lucas Jade Zumann as Gilbert Blythe
• Aymeric Jett Montaz as Jerry Baynard
• Corrine Koslo as Rachel Lynde
• Dalmar Abuzeid as Sebastian "Bash" Lacroix (season 2)
• Cory Grter-Andrew as Cole Mackenzie (season 2)

Others

• Jonathan Holmes as Mr. William Barry
• Dalmar Abuzeid as Sebastian Lacroix
• Helen Johns as Mrs. Eliza Barry
• Ryan Kiera Armstrong as Minnie May Barry
• Deborah Grover as Josephine Barry
• Wayne Best as John Blythe
• Phillip Williams as Thomas Lynde
• David Ingram as Mr. Harmon Andrews
• Janet Porter as Mrs. Andrews
• Christian Martyn as Billy Andrews
• Lia Pappas-Kemps as Jane Andrews
• Ella Jonas Farlinger as Prissy Andrews
• Jim Annan as Mr. Gillis
• Fiona Byrne as Mrs. Gillis
• Kyla Matthews as Ruby Gillis
• Jacob Ursomarzo as Moody Spurgeon
• Stephen Tracey as Mr. Phillips
• Miranda McKeon as Josie Pye
• Glenna Walters as Tillie Boulter
• Katelyn Wells as Mary Joe
• Jacob Horsley as Charlie Sloane
• Joanna Douglas as Miss Muriel Stacy

Production

According to executive producer Miranda de Pencier, this adaptation of the novel has a different look and feel to past productions, aiming for a "documentary level of realism", as reflected in the extraordinary detail which has gone into the design of sets and costumes.

Personnel

Besides the show itself having a larger number of female characters than male, women serving as executive producer and showrunner, the series has several female directors. For the second season, showrunner and scriptwriter Moira Walley-Beckett is joined by a team of women writers.

Casting

Approximately 1800 girls on three continents auditioned for the role of Anne Shirley. Amybeth McNulty was chosen for her ability to deliver dialogue which is "incredibly thick and dynamic and beautiful", according to Miranda de Pencier. Walley-Beckett describes her as at once "luminous," transparent, smart, soulful and emotional.

Filming locations

The series is filmed partially in Prince Edward Island as well as locations in Southern Ontario (including Millbrook and Caledon).

Music

The opening theme is the song "Ahead by a Century" performed and originally composed by Canadian band The Tragically Hip.

Themes

Moira Walley-Beckett had this to say about her treatment, which is darker than the previous productions: "In this day and age, themes of identity, prejudice, bullying, being an outsider, searching for a way to be accepted and how to belong are entirely topical and super relevant, and those are themes that are built into the story of 'Anne.'" She went on to call Anne Shirley an "accidental feminist", and how she "really wanted to tell this story now." For the second season, according to what she called her "master plan", Walley-Beckett introduced an entirely new character of her own, Bash, to reflect the racial diversity present in and around Charlottetown at the time of the novel, with a view to representing a community absent from previous adaptations, achieving this by having Gilbert travel on a steamship and meet with the new character in Trinidad: "Bash is the vehicle to explore intolerance and inequality, even more when he goes to The Bog, when he learns that other black people live there." Walley-Beckett explains: "The Bog is the community that's just outside of Charlottetown, where people of color were marginalized and had their own community there."

Broadcast and release

The series initially premiered on March 19, 2017, on CBC and aired on a weekly basis, the season finale airing on April 30, 2017.

The series debuted on Netflix on May 12, 2017, under the title Anne with an E.

Episodes

Series Overview

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Season 1 (2017)

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|ShortSummary    = When a miscommunication brings a girl, Anne Shirley, to Green Gables instead of a boy, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert are faced with a life-changing decision. 
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|Viewers         = 0.780
|ShortSummary    = Hoping all is not lost, Matthew races to catch up with Anne while Marilla anxiously hopes and waits for their return to Green Gables.  
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|Viewers         = 0.994
|ShortSummary    = Anne is excited to begin school and make friends, but is unprepared for the bullying that occurs when she doesn't fit in. Marilla too, is testing new waters as she accepts an invitation to join a "Progressive Mothers" group. 
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|Viewers         = 0.654
|ShortSummary    =  Anne is faced with the decision of whether or not to return to school. But a fire at the Gillis house and Anne's generous actions help her in her choice.   
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|ShortSummary    = Anne must deal with the inevitability of womanhood when she gets her first period. At the same time, Marilla and Matthew acclimatize to parenthood and revisit moments of their youth through Anne.  
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|Viewers         = 0.656
|ShortSummary    = When her little sister Minnie May becomes ill, Diana runs to Anne for help.  Meanwhile, the Blythe farm sees change, as Marilla is reminded of what she gave up and Matthew receives some unsettling news. 
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = The Cuthberts vow to do whatever it takes to save the farm which reminds Anne of the strength of friendship and love. 
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Season 2 (2018)

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|ShortSummary    = The Cuthberts' boarders stir excitement with a question: Could there be gold in Avonlea? Elsewhere, Gilbert makes a new friend at sea.
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|ShortSummary    = The steamer lands in Trinidad, bringing Bash face to face with his past. The Barrys get behind the gold rush, but Matthew and Marilla aren't so sure.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = An adventure away with the Barrys teaches Anne to trust her instincts. Marilla begins to suspect that her boarders aren"?t as innocent as they seem.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = Anne writes letters as an "agent of romance" while Diana trains at home to be a lady. A life-changing encounter steers Gilbert toward his destiny.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = A game of spin the bottle prompts burning questions about love and beauty. Anne and Cole bond over their differences as Gilbert makes his way home.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = Anne faces the world with a shocking new look while the town preps for its annual Christmas pantomime. Gilbert and Bash join the Cuthberts for dinner.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = Cole accompanies the girls to Aunt Josephine's for a lavish party filled with surprises. Back at home, Marilla's health takes a worrisome turn.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = With a wedding on the horizon, Anne wonders what kind of bride she'd like to be. Marilla sees an oculist, and Bash meets a friendly face in "The Bog."
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = A brand-new teacher brings unconventional methods -- and a motorbike -- to Avonlea. Gilbert's plan to speed up his studies leaves Bash feeling lost.
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|Viewers         = 
|ShortSummary    = Anne rallies her friends to save Miss Stacy in the wake of a disastrous incident. Bash gets an unexpected gift, and Cole makes a surprising choice.
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Reception

Critical response

The first season has achieved a rating of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, the site's critical consensus stating: "Anne with an E uses its complex central character to offer a boldly stylish, emotionally resonant spin on classic source material that satisfies in its own right." The series has received a rating of 79 on Metacritic based on fifteen reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Emily Ashby, writing for Common Sense Media, calls the series an "exceptional" and "spectacular" interpretation, giving it four out of five stars. Tasha Cerny, contributor for the Tracking Board, praises the cinematography as lush and colourful, the characters vibrant, and the plot "surprisingly thrilling for a story about a young girl living in a small secluded community in the late nineteenth century. I laughed, I cried, and I didn"?t expect either from a show about a little girl." Gwen Inhat of The A.V. Club calls the series "at once darker and sweeter than the original" novel, praising the core cast, reserving the highest for the series lead: "Amybeth McNulty defies her youth with a performance that"?s less a portrayal of Anne than an absolute possession. It can"?t be easy to make Anne"?s fanciful language sing the way she does, and McNulty captures the endearing awkwardness that enables Anne to win over everyone she comes in contact with." Writing of the 90-minute premiere episode for the Toronto Star, Johanna Schneller was appreciative of Walley-Beckett's departures from the novel, bringing its subtext to the fore: "Reading between the novel's lines and adding verisimilitude, she gives us quick but potent glimpses of the miseries many orphans faced in 1890s imperialist culture." Hanh Nguyen, reviewing the series for IndieWire, concurs with this assessment, saying: "Rather than ruining the series, they give the context for why Anne would be filled with gratitude for the beauties of nature, basic human decency and having a family to call her own. Montgomery had based much of Anne"?s need for escape into imagination on her own lonely childhood, and her stories have always had an underlying poignancy that made them all the sweeter." Jen Chaney, writing for Vulture.com, agrees, saying: "What distinguishes it from other previous Anne iterations is its willingness to harden some of the story"?s softness, just enough, to create an element of realism that period pieces, Gables-related or not, can be inclined to avoid." Neil Genzlinger writing for The New York Times, commenting on reports of darkness and grittiness, goes so far as to call the adaptation "richer" than the source material: "Ms. McNulty"?s Anne is still wonderfully ebullient and eminently likable; she"?s just not the one-dimensional figure of other adaptations". Annie Hirschlag, writing for Mic, suggests that a genuinely contemporary Anne is bound to reflect the current television landscape and wider culture of its times (the 2010s): "Since today's entertainment is peppered with antiheroes "? characters who are far from perfect, even occasionally villainous "? it makes sense that Anne's familiar idealism is fringed with darkness and agony."

Some reviewers were more ambivalent, mainly about Walley-Beckett's changes to the story. Canadian novelist Saleema Nawaz, who reviewed the 90-minute first episode for Toronto Life, said she enjoyed it more than she expected, particularly the set designs and costumes, as well as the performances by McNulty and Thomson, and she approved of the choice of theme song as reflective of the continued relevance of the source material. She was less sure about how far the series intended to stray from that source material, and disapproved of the "manufactured drama, such as Matthew"?s wild horse ride". Writing for Entertainment Weekly, Isabella Beidenharn expressed similar feelings, but, "putting the source material aside, it"?s a fine show on its own", and she conceded that "inventing a dark side might help Anne With an E fit into today"?s TV landscape". Allison Keene, writing for Collider, agrees that Anne is a good drama on its own terms, but allows it is "only a fair adaptation" of the novel, at its best in the home scenes: "Anne with an E is undeniably the most stylish adaptation we"?ve ever seen of Anne of Green Gables. But its desire to reveal more of Anne"?s miserable past in order to be more true to what the desperation of an orphan is like feels at odds with Montgomery"?s story." Writing for Variety, critic Sonia Saraiya is even more ambivalent, describing the series as on the one hand "a brilliant adaptation" which "succeeds admirably", but on the other hand, "the show can"?t quite sustain the brilliance, veering first into maudlin territory and then into the oddly saccharine as it tests out its tone", contending that "the show gets a bit bogged down in telling the story of Anne"?s dysfunction", presenting "a slightly soapy view of Anne"?s trials and tribulations that at times really humanize her and in others, are rather infantilizing".

Sarah Larson, writing for The New Yorker, was not at all impressed with changes made to the story, arguing that they alter Anne's character to the point of non-recognition. While she acknowledges that bringing subtext to the fore is a fine idea, she is not pleased with the execution, saying that the result is part "the Anne we know and love" and part "untrustworthy stranger", calling the alteration and addition of scenes a "betrayal" of Montgomery's novel, comparing the treatment unfavourably to Patricia Rozema's 1999 adaptation of Jane Austen's Mansfield Park. For Joanna Robinson, writing for Vanity Fair, a central problem with the show is that it "seems to think that in order for Anne to be a feminist figure, she has to butt up against a straw-man-filled patriarchy," and so it turned many of the male characters into misogynists, most notably the Reverend Allan, who is considered by Anne to be a "kindred spirit" in the book: "Anne with an E seems to think Anne"?s triumphs are only noteworthy if she's continually told she can't succeed, when in fact her unfettered brilliance needs no such clumsy opposition. It also seems to think that Anne needs a radical feminist makeover when, in fact, the story of her success was feminist in its own right." This is part of a more general problem Robinson notes, that conflicts are exaggerated and overdone: "this series thrives on non-stop tragedy."