Apple TV+ is taking another swing at Tom Wolfe's iconic 1987 novel. According to IGN, a new series adaptation of The Bonfire of the Vanities is in development at the streamer, with prestige TV powerhouse David E. Kelley attached as showrunner and The Batman director Matt Reeves on board as a producer.
Why This Adaptation Has Fancasting Fans Buzzing
This is exactly the kind of project that gets casting obsessives fired up — and for good reason. Wolfe's sprawling satirical novel is stuffed with vivid, larger-than-life characters: a status-obsessed Wall Street bond trader, a ruthless tabloid journalist, an opportunistic reverend, a scorned wife, a seductive socialite. The 1990 Brian De Palma film adaptation starring Tom Hanks and Melanie Griffith was famously considered a misfire, which means this new version carries both the weight of a beloved source material and the tantalizing opportunity to finally get it right.
With Kelley's track record on prestige limited series — think Big Little Lies and The Undoing — and Reeves bringing serious cinematic credibility, this feels like a genuine event project. The central casting question is enormous: Sherman McCoy, Wolfe's "Master of the Universe" brought low by a single terrible night, demands an actor who can play aristocratic entitlement and crumbling desperation in equal measure. Get that role right and everything else follows.
What myCast Fans Are Already Thinking
The myCast community hasn't waited for official casting news to start dreaming. Over on The Bonfire of the Vanities story, fans have already begun staking out their picks across 12 key roles — and the choices are genuinely fascinating.
For Sherman McCoy, the current fan pick is Josh O'Connor, the Challengers and The Crown star who has made a career out of playing brittle, privilege-soaked men whose facades crack under pressure. It's an inspired suggestion — O'Connor brings exactly the kind of coiled, slightly-off-putting charisma that McCoy requires. Meanwhile, Timothée Chalamet has been tapped for Larry Kramer, and Paul Mescal lands the role of Peter Fallow, the dissolute British journalist whose sardonic narration anchors much of the story. The fact that fans are gravitating toward the current generation of prestige drama darlings — rather than established A-listers — says a lot about the tone they want this show to strike.