8creating The Queen's Gambit Site

The documentary highlights that adapting Walter Tevis's 1983 novel was a "passion project" that spent decades in "development hell".

: It wasn't until Scott Frank's success with the Netflix series Godless that the project pivoted to a seven-episode format, which allowed for deeper exploration of the "cost of genius". 8Creating The Queen's Gambit

: Before his passing, Ledger was set to direct the adaptation. The documentary highlights that adapting Walter Tevis's 1983