Britney Spears’ life story is still heading to the big screen.
Liz Meriwether, creator of New Girl and the screenwriter behind the upcoming Britney Spears biopic, has confirmed that the project remains in development, although work on the film is still at an early stage.
Speaking about the project, Meriwether said she believes this is the right moment to revisit Spears’ story and the cultural environment that surrounded her rise to fame.
“I’m really at the beginning of it,” Meriwether told People, adding that she has been immersing herself in Spears’ music while developing the screenplay.
The film will be based on Spears’ 2023 memoir The Woman in Me, which chronicles her childhood, rise to global pop superstardom, relationships and years under a court-ordered conservatorship.
Meriwether, who is also behind Dying for Sex, was announced as the film’s screenwriter in July. She has been revisiting Spears’ catalogue while working on the adaptation, including tracks such as Perfume and If I’m Dancing.
The writer said part of what makes Spears’ story relevant now is the wider reassessment of how young women in the public eye were treated during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
“I think it’s the right time for this movie,” she said.
Who is behind the Britney Spears biopic?
Universal Pictures acquired the rights to The Woman in Me in 2024 following competition for the memoir’s screen rights.
Jon M. Chu, director of Crazy Rich Asians and the Wicked films, is attached to direct, while Marc Platt will produce.
Spears previously teased her involvement in the project when it was announced, telling fans on social media that she had been working on a “secret project” with Platt. Chu has also previously said that Spears would be “very involved” in bringing her story to the screen.
Who will play Britney Spears?
For now, that remains unknown.
Several major stars have previously been linked to the role through online speculation, including Ariana Grande, Sabrina Carpenter and Millie Bobby Brown. However, Chu shut down those reports in 2025, saying the production had not begun casting and was still too early in development.
The latest update does not include any casting announcements or a release date, meaning fans may still have some time to wait before finding out who will portray Spears.
The Woman in Me was released in October 2023 and became a major publishing success. The memoir has sold more than six million copies worldwide, while its audiobook, narrated by Michelle Williams with an introduction from Spears, became the fastest-selling audiobook in Simon & Schuster’s history.
Source: Khaleej Times