Sunday October 19, 2025 | VICTORIA, BC
Entertainment News | by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Netflix has commissioned an eight-part Canadian series called The Granville Girls.
The period drama storyline is based on U.S. author Cat Cahill’s The Gilbert Girls, a romance novel series set in rural Colorado but for this production is the story has been reformulated into a Canadian context set in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
Adriana Maggs, known for her work on Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent will serve as showrunner and writer, with production handled by the Toronto-based Shaftesbury Films known for the TV hit series Murdoch Mysteries.
The series will presents the story of a woman hired to work at the Granville Hotel who gets into a relationship with the hotel’s builder. Per the storyline synopsis: “the job offers adventure, friendship, and a chance to support her family—if she can resist the hotel’s strictest rule: never fraternize with the men”.
Reportedly, two female Netflix’s directors of content in Canada said in a statement that The Granville Girls is “a big, blue sky series that offers the comfort of female friendship and the allure of period romance”.
In today’s age of AI and great social transformation it will be interesting to see what a period romance based in the late 1800s will have in the way of any meaningful contribution to modern entertainment. Clearly aimed at a female viewership, it speaks to what might be seen as outdated romantic notions.
Granville Hotel:
The original Granville Hotel of 1890– recognized as a historic place — is a three-storey late Victorian-era hotel constructed of brick, with a four-storey brick rear extension. It is located mid-block on the south side of Water Street the historic district of Gastown in downtown Vancouver.
The Gastown area is recognized as the birthplace of Vancouver, and was pivotal in the first 25 years of the city’s history, being a key location in a formative period in Canada’s economic development.
Spinoff marketing could result for currently operating hotels with the name Granville, including Granville Island Hotel and the Best Western Premier Chateau Granville in Vancouver.
Netflix:
Netflix isn’t to ate a prolific commissioner in Canada, but has brought on-stream some originals such as sci-fi series Travelers, and earlier this year unveiled an untitled drama series from Jesse McKeown shot and set in Newfoundland.
Netflix also shoots many U.S. series in the Canada, and has a major production services studio in Toronto.
Some new shows out of Canada include Wayward, a drama series that launched on September 25, and Who Killed The Montreal Expos? which releases on October 21.
A broad-reach streaming platform, one Netflix promotional mantra is “We are here to entertain the world, one fan at a time”.
===== RELATED:
NEWS SECTIONS: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT | VANCOUVER & LOWER MAINLAND | WOMEN IN SOCIETY