A global crisis known as "The Emergency" is causing chaos. People are filled with anxiety and panic, and misinformation is rampant. It’s up to the four gifted orphans at the Mysterious Benedict Society to discover the truth and save the world.

This unique new television series on Disney+ has a nearly 15-year history from its origins as a middle-grade book series by writer Trenton Lee Stewart to its premiere on June 25, 2021.

Released in 2008, The Mysterious Benedict Society didn’t arrive into the hands of television series creators Matt Manfredi and Phil Hay until 2017. Once they read it though, they were on board.

"When we were first sent the book, we were inspired by it,” said Hay, whose varied writing credits include Destroyer and Ride Along, adding, "It’s witty, smart, bizarre; it’s all of those things."

What also drove his and Manfredi’s desire to adapt this novel was its story about the power of language, propaganda and mind control.

"All of these things are done with a light touch in the book and series itself — it’s obviously deeply relevant."

The creators felt the present time was perfect for telling this story. 

The book’s emphasis on empathy and truth and the way it focuses on real issues was an aspect that attracted Manfredi to the story as well. 

"The way it dealt with the kids in such a sophisticated and mature manner, it didn’t talk down to the kids that it was characterizing, or the audience. We connected with it," he said.

That is perhaps one of the biggest reasons to adapt a piece of work to television or film — its ability to connect with the audience. When considering adapting a piece of work, Hay tries to find the part of it that connects so that he can then shine a light onto it.

It was the characters and their specificity and their uniqueness along with the themes in the story that offered that connection.

Prepare for the long game

It took quite a while to put everything together and go from published book to Disney+ premiere. For Manfredi and Hay, it was nearly a four-year journey from when they received the book in 2017.

"We engaged instantly when we read it and there was a long process in finding a home, and that home changed," Manfredi said.

"From reading the book to adapting it to getting it on the air was a long, winding process."

Hay adds, "We’re used to that. Our movies always take eight to 10 years to actually happen, so this is lightning quick by our standards."

For writers, whether adapting from another source or based on their own concept, both creators of The Mysterious Benedict Society will share that every writer they know will tell you the same thing: you have to be ready for the long game in every way, mentally and literally.

"So much stuff happens that has nothing to do with the script itself," Manfredi said.

"The script is done and everyone is happy, then everything else comes into play."

This can include everything from development and financing to securing talent and availability.

Where to begin an adaptation?

The truth is that where one begins an adaptation depends on the source material. For a show like The Mysterious Benedict Society, Hay and Manfredi found that the first book in the series (there are three sequels and one prequel) really lent itself to a television series.

Whether working on an adaptation or an original piece, Hay suggests writers "find the three to four scenes or sequences or moments that are the islands of what makes it special and specific. Then take the cue from there because you found the soul and the purpose of the story." 

Within the adaptation process into the series, Hay and Manfredi found that some of the interactions between the characters were those islands or moments because they were so disarming, honest and funny. These islands, or the soul of the story, tend to be the things that never change.

"You can’t go wrong once you find the true north of the story," Hay said.

Manfredi adds, "The Mysterious Benedict Society is a 500-page book, so you have to find the essence of this thing that you love and what brought you to it and have that in mind as your guide."

Writing the series happened in stages starting with writing the pilot before it found a home at a streaming service. That fell through, however, and Disney+ picked it up and then had them write the second episode. When it was greenlit, Hay and Manfredi, along with showrunning partners Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer, collaborated on how the series would play out.

They determined how the eighth and final episode in the season would play out, allowing them to know what moves they had to make in middle episodes. This process made the creation of the first season more manageable.

"Drawing on [Slavkin and Swimmer's] experience in television and structure was extremely helpful," Hay said.

"Getting those first two written and really feeling solidly that that was the right proportions for that movement gave us the confidence to then enter the writers room."

Now what about the author of the book series, Trenton Lee Stewart?

"We talked to him early on and he was generous and gracious and gave us a blessing to take it and run with it," Manfredi said, adding that he and Hay believe it was their degree of love and respect for the book and their desire to be true to it that made Stewart comfortable with it under their care.

"He read drafts, saw cuts, he gave thoughts. He was fantastic to work with."

Yesterday’s story, today

From the first scenes of the first episode, it felt like this story has a direct connection to some of today’s societal issues, yet the book is 13 years old.

"It felt very prescient in terms of things that were happening today, such as the truth being under attack and the need for empathy in our heroes,” Manfredi said.

"For us, it was a matter of following through with the things that were in the book."

Characters that are victorious didn’t seem to matter, but rather how they were as individuals was more important. The creators focused on character and whether or not they were the type of people who, for example, would leave people behind or compromise their values just to win.

The intention was never to be heavy-handed, which is difficult when there are a lot of weighty issues that young children are dealing with. For one thing, the characters are either orphans or they were abandoned. On top of this internal struggle were the feelings of tremendous, ambient anxiety from the world. Having the kids listen to each other and acknowledge these anxieties conveyed understanding, which allowed the creators to keep it light.

Regarding its parallels from fiction to real life, Hay recognizes the difference between topical and relevant.

"We never wanted to be ‘topical’ or have winking references to direct events of our world because I think what Trenton started in his series, and we hope we continued, is that he unearthed some timeless truths and had a specific way of approaching them. We really hooked into this wave of anxiety and the ill of the society we’re portraying."

The Mysterious Benedict Society premiered on Disney+ on June 25.