Nancy Drew is returning in a big way, both as a feature film from Warner Bros. and also as a television series from WB’s CW.

Completely overlooked for several reasons, I happened to catch the trailer for Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase ahead of a handful of films over the past week. I was shocked at how dark this adaptation looked, even if the trailer attempted to hide it. Arriving in theaters this coming March 15th, and starring IT breakout star Sophia Lillis as the title character, the Katt Shea-directed (The Rage: Carrie 2) adaptation of the 1930(!) book follows Nancy and her pals who set out to solve the mystery of the hidden staircase. While not straight horror or anything like that, the footage looks like somewhat of a gateway film that could turn younger filmgoers into horror fans. I think the casting of Lillis also tips the hat a bit.

In addition to the following trailer, the CW has ordered a pilot to a brand new “Nancy Drew” series shooting under the title “The Haunting of Nancy Drew”, which will star Kennedy McMann as the title character. Set in the summer after her high school graduation, 18-year-old Nancy Drew thought she’d be leaving her hometown for college, but when a family tragedy holds her back another year, she finds herself embroiled in a ghostly murder investigation — and along the way, uncovers secrets that run deeper than she ever imagined.

Again, neither the film or series sound straight up horror, but there’s a bit of a “Scooby Doo” element to both synopses and the promise of kidnap and possibly even murder. Younger horror fans have to start somewhere and here’s hoping that these are the kinds of projects that older horror fans can take their kids to see in order to introduce them to our genre.

Thoughts?