The Queen's Gambit stage musical in the works, based on 1983 novel

Walter Tevis’ 1983 chess novel, The Queen’s Gambit, looks to be heading for the stage.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, production company Level Forward has acquired theatrical stage rights to the coming-of-age story of chess prodigy Beth Harmon.

Level Forward's team members include Abigail Disney, co-founder of the company, as well as the Broadway producer Eva Price.

The project is still in very early development, with no creative team attached and no date for premiere.

“It is a privilege for Level Forward to lead the charge of bringing The Queen’s Gambit to the stage through the beloved and enduring craft of musical theatre,” said Level Forward CEO Adrienne Becker and producer Julia Dunetz in a statement.

“Told through a brave and fresh point of view, audiences are already sharing in the friendship and fortitude of the story’s inspiring women who energise and sustain Beth Harmon’s journey and ultimate triumph. The story is a siren call amidst our contemporary struggles for gender and racial equity, and we’re looking forward to moving the project forward.”

Harmon is played by Anya Taylor-Joy in the Netflix adaptation - who subsequently won Critics Choice and Golden Globes for her outstanding performance.

Level Forward is known for their Tony-nominated revival of the Oklahoma! and What the Constitution Means to Me. The latter play was a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

But given its recent history of Broadway productions, including a musical based on Alanis Morissette’s album Jagged Little Pill and the provocative Slave Play by Jeremy O Harris; all signs point towards Beth Harmon going to New York.

The Netflix adaptation of the novel became one of the streamer platform's critical and commercial successes of the 2020. More than 62 million accounts viewed the seven-part series from Godless creator Scott Frank and Allan Scott in its first month, making it the streamer’s most watched limited series to date.

Whether there will be drug-fuelled dream dance sequences, dancing and singing chess pieces and an orphanage choice is yet to be seen, but we're fascinated to see where this goes.