Joyelle Ronan
Few characters have infiltrated media quite like Nancy Drew. The young sleuth has been the subject of over 600 books, 33 video games, six films, and three television series over the span of 93 years. It’s hard to say what exactly it is about her that inspires this steady stream of reboots. After all, Nancy’s personality and age seems to change with every adaptation. There are, however, some constants—her town, father, car, and love of sleuthing tend to remain the same no matter what situation, or personality, she’s given. Maybe it’s that adaptability that allows her to be consistently re-introduced to generation after generation.
After all, as there is no singular version of Nancy, there is no singular author of her books. Carolyn Keene is just a pseudonym for the many authors who write the mysteries. This also lends well to the HerInteractive computer games, which allow the player to actually become Nancy—bearing the slogan “It’s up to you as Nancy Drew.” With few defining characteristics, it’s easy for readers, watchers, and gamers to feel as though they can embody her. Since 1938, both film and television have attempted to invent a Nancy to appeal to the masses. In the 85 years that have passed, there hasn’t been one adaptation that trumps all. She’s still more of an idea than an actual character. Having watched every iteration, I still wonder who exactly is Nancy Drew?
Nancy Drew… Detective (1938)
From 1938-1939 Bonita Granville starred in four Nancy Drew films. Her portrayal is the only film adaptation to garner sequels. Granville was a talented actress (at 14 years old, she held the record of youngest Academy Award nominee for 20 years for her role in These Three (1936), but the version of Nancy she was given was also a fantastic character. Within the first 15 minutes of the first film, Nancy Drew…Detective (1938), Nancy’s personality and ambitions are established. Her teacher suggests Nancy give a speech for Mary Eldredge, a wealthy woman donating money to their school. A classmate then suggests it would be good practice for Nancy’s future plans of becoming a lawyer. To Mary’s comment of “I didn’t know you were planning on becoming a lawyer,” Nancy responds with “I think every intelligent woman should have a career.”
Nancy speaking about her desire for a career, before it became more common for women to work during World War II, was progressive. Another aspect to consider is that no one questions her ability to do so, especially not her lawyer father. In fact, Carson Drew (John Litel) is very supportive of Nancy’s ambitions, even when they get her into trouble. He’s protective but never patronizing. As Nancy is giving him a ride, despite her questionable driving skills, she teases him about being followed and he laughs along.
It turns out they were being followed in connection to Mary Eldredge’s disappearance. Carson tells Nancy the situation has become too dangerous, but that of course doesn’t stop her. Instead, she enlists the help of neighbor Ted Nickerson (Frankie Thomas.) In Nancy Drew lore, Ned (With an “N”) is Nancy’s doting boyfriend who willingly assists in her schemes. Ted, however, is in a constant state of agitation while somehow getting tangled up in Nancy’s cases. It’s almost an enemies-to-lovers classic, except the ‘lovers’ part never comes to fruition. At least not in any of the four films: Nancy Drew… Reporter, Nancy Drew… Trouble Shooter, and Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, all released in 1939.
Nancy solves the case but it involves Ted having to disguise himself as a nurse and the two of them getting locked in a basement. Nancy has such control over the men in life, often outsmarting them—especially the bumbling police detective Captain Tweedy (Frank Orth.) The films are short at around an hour, and have somewhat simple plots for the mystery genre, but the spunk and humor Granville brings to Nancy is what makes it a successful adaptation. It builds on and defines the character in the books. This Nancy was critiqued as ditzy and gullible, and not intelligent enough. But, ditzy and intelligent are not antonyms. Is Nancy ditzy or is she just funny? After all, this is a comedy. It’s okay for her to be smart and also be a teenage girl who gets excited about a swimming pool. It feels like director William Clemens and writer Kenneth Garnet had a clear vision of who they wanted Nancy to be and executed it.
Nancy Drew (2007)
Nancy wouldn’t return to the big screen for nearly 70 years, and she struggled to find lasting success in television—first in 1977 with The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries. The Poseidon Adventure’s Pamela Sue Martin (who would later portray Fallon in Dynasty) played Nancy before Janet Julian took over the role for the final four episodes of season two before Nancy’s character was dropped altogether. Nancy was once again tied to the detective duo in 1995, but instead of alternating episodes, Nancy Drew (1995) and The Hardy Boys (1995) were separate shows that lasted just 13 episodes with two crossovers.
The first HerInteractive Nancy Drew computer game, Secrets can Kill, released in 1998 and introduced a new generation to Nancy in a way the 1995 show had failed to. With the success of the games, it would make sense someone would try to cash in on the name. In 2002, Nancy headed off to college in a tv movie that failed to become a series.
Emma Roberts would be the next actress to try to fill those penny loafers in 2007’s Nancy Drew. Whereas Granville’s Nancy seems to have been popularized to fit the audience at the time, Robert’s Nancy was created to stand out. She is removed from what she knows, what the fans know—her well-established hometown of River Heights, her best friends Bess and George, and even, briefly, Ned (Max Thieriot). Through her scheming, she and her father (Tate Donovan) move to Los Angeles into the house of Dehlia Draycott, a Marilyn Monroe-esque Hollywood star who suffered a mysterious death. The location wasn’t the only change as new characters like Corky (Josh Flitter), a young boy who befriends and crushes on Nancy, and his older sister and Nancy’s bully, Inga (Daniella Monet), are added.
After attempts to age up Nancy, having her back as a 16-year-old high school student feels refreshing. Her chic 1950s-inspired wardrobe, although mocked by her fellow students, is peak twee and pays a nice homage to Nancy’s vintage roots. Robert’s Nancy is smart, confident, and poised, she doesn’t really let the “mean girls” get to her. She’s too busy solving her case. No one would accuse her of being ditzy, if anything she might be a little too perfect with her intricately organized sleuth kit equipped with lemon bars and her enunciated dialogue that sounds unnatural coming from a young teen.
Like the the 1938 film, the plot itself is nothing revolutionary, but it’s fun and has a sweet ending. In a review by Anthony Lane for the New Yorker, he bizarrely creates a fake conversation between Roberts, and her aunt, Julia Roberts. He quotes fake Julia as saying, “I doubt if any female over the age of twelve would get much pleasure from the film.” While the story is intended for a younger audience, is that necessarily a negative? Who should Nancy Drew be for if not young girls?
Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019)
Two thousand nineteen was a big year for Nancy. Not only did Sophia Lillis star in Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase (2019), but Nancy got a sexy CW makeover for Nancy Drew (2019), a television series that managed to last four whole seasons. Kennedy McMann’s Nancy was a prom queen who lost everything when her mom died. Putting college on hold, she stays in River Heights to work at a local diner and become involved in a murder. It has the usual suspects—Bess, George, Ned (who goes by Nick), and Carson—but the tone is much darker. This Nancy is a much more PG-13 Nancy. In both adaptations of 2019, Nancy’s mother’s death is much more prevalent to the story. Usually, it’s just unclear what exactly has happened to her mother.
In Nancy Drew and the Hidden Staircase, Lillis’s Nancy moves from Chicago to River Heights. Nearly everything about her opposes Robert’s Nancy. She plays pranks, skateboard, and wears ripped jeans. She’s bitter, snarky, and lacks charm, but it allows her a character arc that other Nancies never seem to get. She ends up teaming up with “mean girl” Helen (Laura Slade Wiggins) to save Carson (Sam Trammell) and Helen’s aunt, Flora (Linda Lavin). This film is more focused on girl power, prominately featuring Nancy’s best friends Bess (Mackenzie Graham) and George (Zoe Renee) and cutting out Ned or any love interest entirely.
The mystery is probably the most well thought out with higher stakes due to her father being a victim, yet retaining classic Nancy elements like ghostly hallucination caused by nutmeg and secret passageways. Despite having the best critical success of any of the movies, it was commercially unsuccessful making only $623,088 of its $17 million budget. This could be because the show overshadow the film or maybe Sophia Lillis, best known for It (2017), wasn’t a big enough name to draw people in. Throwing Nancy in a completely modern world with no retro aesthetics may not work. Either way the film seems to have gotten lost in the Nancy Drew canon.
Every Nancy fan is going to have their favorite adaptation, maybe having to do with the plot, actress, or even just the time period in which they became a fan. Has she ever really found on-screen success? Not yet. Despite tweaking nearly every aspect about her except for her ability to solve mysteries, not one single adaptation has cemented itself into pop culture the way Sherlock (2010) did for Sherlock Holmes. Nancy needs someone with a vision. Someone who really cares about the lore of this character beyond the branding and just wants to make something really great—like what Greta Gerwig did for Barbie (2023.)
With CW’s Nancy Drew (2019) having just ended this year, it needs some time to breathe. I have no doubt Nancy will be back with a new adventure, there is too much potential for something special. For now, the biggest mystery is when that will be.
