Shonda Rhimes Producing ‘Romeo & Juliet’ Spinoff Series ‘Still Star-Crossed’

Shonda Rhimes’ latest show for ABC will be a Romeo and Juliet spinoff series titled Still Star-Crossed.

Shonda Rhimes’ Romeo & Juliet’ Project

While there has been buzz about the Romeo and Juliet spinoff over the last few months, it wasn’t until recently that ABC confirmed that the network would be moving forward with the project, and had ordered a pilot. Rhimes will be producing the series with her Shondaland team, including Heather Mitchell and Betsy Beers, according to Variety.

Still Star-Crossed is based off of the 2013 novel by Melinda Taub of the same name, Picking up after the deaths of Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague, their respective families are eager to end the long-running feud. The solution is to form an alliance by marriage, arranging for a pair of teens to wed.

On Saturday, Rhimes – who is behind Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away with Murder – was awarded the 2016 Norman Lear Achievement Award in Television at the 27th annual Producers Guild Awards. In her acceptance speech, which touched on Hollywood’s ongoing diversity problem made apparent by this year’s list of Oscar nominees, Rhimes scoffed at the idea that having diverse casts make her a trailblazer.

“It’s not trailblazing to write the world as it actually is. Basically, you are just giving me an award for being me, in which case I totally deserve this. Really, I am honored to receive it,” Rhimes said in her acceptance speech. “The respect of this award does mean the world. It just makes me a little bit sad. First of all, [writing about] strong women and three dimensional people of color is something Norman was doing 40 something years ago. So how come it has to be done all over again?”

“I have, against no odds, courageously pioneered the art of writing for people of color as if they were human beings,” Rhimes added. “I’ve bravely gone around just casting parts for actors who were the best ones.”