Allowing us to finally talk about Britney Spears and Robert Durst at the same time—outside of a discussion of people who notably belched on TV—Lifetime has announced that it’s signed on for a biopic of the “Hit Me Baby One More Time” singer, to go along with all the other projects it ordered up today. It’s not clear if Spears has given her sanction to the project—she’s not listed as an executive producer, which is usually a bad sign—but Britney (working title) is moving ahead, with Asylum Entertainment (The Kennedys, Big Fish Texas, and Lifetime’s own The Secret Life Of Marilyn Monroe) handling production duties.
According to the press release announcing the project, Lifetime seems to be going with a redemption narrative for the project, charting Spears’ rise, then fall, then Federline, then rise again. After years of legal troubles, Spears does appear to be on the upward slope: she’s currently in the middle of what’s believed to be an extremely lucrative Las Vegas residency, is scheduled for this year’s MTV Music Awards, and is releasing her ninth studio album, Glory, on Friday. On the other hand, she’s also still living under a strange legal conservatorship—usually reserved for the elderly and infirm—that’s operated by her family.
Britney is expected to debut some time in 2017 on Lifetime, by which point we’ll probably have a better idea of which part of the extended VH1 Beyond The Music episode Spears has been living in for the last 18 years we’re currently at.