Netflix is giving one of Jane Austen’s most enduring stories a contemporary makeover with Ladies of the House, a new family drama loosely based on Lauren Edmondson’s 2021 novel of the same name.
The series comes from Sweet Magnolias showrunner Sheryl J. Anderson and reunites her with JoAnna Garcia Swisher, who will executive produce with Kate Gordon through their Rolling Clover production company. Instead of Regency-era England, Ladies of the House will center on a modern family winery and three women struggling to keep both the business and their relationships intact.
Although the setting is new, the emotional foundation should be familiar to anyone who has read Sense and Sensibility: a husband and father dies, the women he leaves behind face an uncertain future, and two very different sisters must navigate grief, money, family expectations and romance.
Here is everything Netflix has confirmed about Ladies of the House, how the series connects to Sense and Sensibility and where its story may depart from Edmondson’s novel.
What Is Ladies of the House About?
Netflix’s official synopsis begins with the unexpected death of the charismatic owner of a family winery. His widow and two adult daughters must work through their unresolved problems as they confront threats involving the business, their extended family and the men in their lives.
Friends and wine will help the three women fight to preserve the winery, but their most important challenge will be finding a way to preserve their family.
That premise places the relationship among the three Richardson women—Daisy, Wallis and their mother, Cricket—at the center of the show. It also gives the series a natural combination of family drama, romance and workplace conflict. A winery can become both the family’s endangered inheritance and the place where its members are forced to rebuild their lives together.
Netflix has described Ladies of the House as part of its growing collection of “feel-good comfort entertainment,” placing it alongside shows such as Virgin River and Little House on the Prairie. That does not mean the Richardson family’s problems will be minor. The story begins with death and financial uncertainty, but its emphasis appears to be on resilience, emotional connection and recovery rather than bleakness.
Is Ladies of the House Based on a Book?
Yes. The Netflix series is based on Lauren Edmondson’s debut novel Ladies of the House, published by Graydon House in 2021.
Edmondson’s novel moves the basic framework of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility into contemporary Washington, D.C. Daisy Richardson is the responsible elder daughter of a prominent political family, while her younger sister, Wallis, is more spontaneous and openly emotional. Their mother, Cricket, completes the central family trio.
After the Richardson patriarch dies, a public scandal involving him threatens the family’s reputation and stability. Daisy attempts to manage the fallout, protect her family and maintain control while Wallis follows her emotions into a complicated relationship. The novel uses the Richardsons’ fall from elite Georgetown society to reconsider Austen’s concerns about status, financial security, reputation and the limited choices available to women.
The Netflix adaptation is described as being “loosely based” on the book, and its official winery premise signals a substantial change. Edmondson’s political and social scandal may be revised, reduced or replaced by conflict surrounding the family business. Netflix has not yet explained how much of the Georgetown storyline will remain.
How Is Ladies of the House a Modern Sense and Sensibility Retelling?
Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility follows the Dashwood family after the death of Henry Dashwood. Because of the era’s inheritance rules, his widow and daughters are left in reduced circumstances. Much of the novel focuses on sisters Elinor and Marianne Dashwood, whose contrasting temperaments shape the ways they respond to love, disappointment and social pressure.
Elinor represents “sense.” She is practical, restrained and accustomed to carrying emotional burdens without displaying them. Marianne represents “sensibility.” She is passionate, impulsive and unwilling to disguise what she feels.
Edmondson translates that contrast into Daisy and Wallis Richardson. Daisy resembles Elinor: she values order, responsibility and self-control. Wallis occupies the Marianne role as the sister more willing to take emotional risks. Cricket corresponds to Mrs. Dashwood, the widowed mother attempting to hold the family together after its protector and provider is gone.
The parallels can be summarized this way:
| Sense and Sensibility | Edmondson’s novel | Netflix series |
|---|---|---|
| Mr. Dashwood dies and leaves the women of his family financially vulnerable | The Richardson patriarch dies before a scandal destabilizes the family | The owner of a family winery dies unexpectedly |
| Elinor is the responsible, emotionally restrained elder sister | Daisy is practical and determined to manage the family crisis | Daisy is expected to remain one of the three central Richardson women |
| Marianne is romantic, expressive and impulsive | Wallis is the freer-spirited younger sister | Wallis is expected to face family and romantic complications |
| Mrs. Dashwood becomes a widow facing a diminished future | Cricket must rebuild life with her daughters | The widowed mother must help save the winery |
| Property, inheritance and marriage determine the women’s security | Reputation, politics and modern social power create pressure | Ownership of the winery creates a contemporary inheritance and survival conflict |
The vineyard is an especially fitting modern substitute for Austen’s inheritance plot. In Sense and Sensibility, property laws leave the Dashwood women dependent on the choices of male relatives. In the Netflix show, the Richardson women may have more legal and economic agency, but they must still prove that they can preserve the family’s home, work and legacy after its male owner dies.
What Will Netflix Change From the Book?
The largest confirmed change is the story’s central setting and conflict.
Edmondson’s novel is a high-society Georgetown drama shaped by politics and public scandal. Netflix’s announcement instead emphasizes a family winery. The new setting gives the adaptation an ongoing workplace, a community of employees and customers, and a valuable property that can generate conflicts across multiple episodes or seasons.
The change also makes Ladies of the House sound closer in format to Sweet Magnolias and Virgin River: a warm, relationship-driven drama anchored by a distinctive place. Sheryl J. Anderson has experience expanding a book-based world into an ensemble series in which friendship, romance, family and local business storylines overlap.
However, viewers should be careful not to assume that every character or romance from the novel will appear exactly as written. Netflix has not announced the supporting cast, episode count or detailed character descriptions. It has also not confirmed whether the book’s political scandal will remain part of the series.
The safest expectation is that the show will preserve the novel’s emotional architecture, the Richardson women, the contrasting sisters and the struggle to rebuild after the father’s death, while creating a new television-friendly world around the winery.
Who Is Making Ladies of the House?
Sheryl J. Anderson will serve as showrunner and executive producer. Anderson is best known to Netflix viewers for developing and running Sweet Magnolias, another female-led drama based on a book series.
JoAnna Garcia Swisher and Kate Gordon will executive produce through Rolling Clover. Garcia Swisher starred as Maddie Townsend in Sweet Magnolias and helped bring Edmondson’s book to Anderson. In Netflix’s announcement, she said that she fell in love with Daisy, Cricket and Wallis and with the characters’ strength, messiness and heart.
Black Label Media will also executive produce. The company’s film credits include La La Land and Sicario.
Some early reports have described Garcia Swisher as the star or potential star of the series. Netflix’s own announcement, however, confirms her as an executive producer without naming an acting role. Until Netflix releases an official cast list, her possible character should be treated as unconfirmed.
Has the Ladies of the House Cast Been Announced?
No complete cast has been announced.
The three most important roles will presumably be Daisy, Wallis and Cricket Richardson, but Netflix has not revealed who will play them. It has also not announced actors for their relatives, friends or romantic interests.
Garcia Swisher is closely involved behind the scenes and has been linked to a potential starring role in trade coverage, but Netflix has not identified her character. Casting news will likely provide the next major indication of how closely the show plans to follow the novel.
When Will Ladies of the House Be Released on Netflix?
Netflix has not announced a release date or release window for Ladies of the House.
The streamer announced the series on September 18, 2026, without providing filming dates, an episode count or production status. Any premiere prediction would therefore be speculation. A release date will become easier to estimate after Netflix confirms the cast and announces that filming has begun.
Is There a Trailer?
There is no trailer or first-look footage yet. Because the project has only recently been announced, viewers should expect casting and production updates before a teaser arrives.
Readers searching for the new Netflix show should also be aware that it is unrelated to the 2008 Hallmark television movie Ladies of the House and the 2014 horror movie The Ladies of the House.
Why Ladies of the House Could Work as a Netflix Series
The most promising part of Ladies of the House is that it does not need to imitate Austen scene for scene to remain faithful to her ideas. Sense and Sensibility has endured because its central conflict is both specific and universal: two sisters love each other deeply but approach hardship and romance in completely different ways.
Moving that tension into a struggling winery gives the adaptation a strong visual identity and creates more room for an ensemble. Business competitors, relatives, employees, neighbors and romantic interests can all complicate the Richardson women’s effort to save what their family built.
The series also arrives with a team suited to this material. Anderson and Garcia Swisher already understand the audience for warm, female-centered dramas about family, friendship and second chances. The challenge will be ensuring that Ladies of the House develops its own personality instead of feeling like Sweet Magnolias relocated to a vineyard.
Its Austen roots could make the difference. If the show preserves the contrast between Daisy’s restraint and Wallis’s emotional openness—while allowing Cricket to become more than the mother caught between them—it can offer both the comfort of a familiar Netflix drama and the sharper questions about money, status and women’s independence that made Sense and Sensibility last.
The Bottom Line
Ladies of the House is an upcoming Netflix family drama based loosely on Lauren Edmondson’s modern retelling of Sense and Sensibility. It follows a widow and her two adult daughters after the sudden death of the owner of their family winery, forcing them to confront business trouble, romantic complications and their strained relationships with one another.
Sheryl J. Anderson will serve as showrunner, with JoAnna Garcia Swisher, Kate Gordon and Black Label Media among the executive producers. Netflix has not yet announced the cast, filming dates, episode count, trailer or release date.
The series appears likely to retain the book’s most important Austen-inspired elements, three women rebuilding after a family death, two sisters with opposite temperaments and the connection between financial survival and romantic choice, even as it replaces Georgetown politics with the pressures of running a winery.
This article will be updated as Netflix announces the cast, production schedule, first-look images, trailer and release date.
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