‘Penelope’ Trailer: Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn Co-Write Teen Wilderness Coming-of-Age Series

Samantha Bergeson
·2 min read

Mark Duplass and Mel Eslyn are venturing into the wilderness with teen runaway tale “Penelope.”

The independently-financed series, which premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, has found a home at Netflix. Duplass Brothers’ production banner head Eslyn is the showrunner of the series, which she co-wrote with Mark Duplass. “Little Fires Everywhere” alum Megan Stott leads the show.

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The official synopsis reads: “Feeling out of place in the modern world, 16-year-old Penelope (Stott) finds herself almost cosmically drawn to nature. With no plan in place, she leaves her family behind for the beguiling wilderness of Washington State, where she begins to establish a different kind of life for herself. As Penelope forges an alternative life for herself, survivalism and coming-of-age go hand-in-hand as she learns by trial and error.”

“Euphoria” actor Austin Abrams co-stars in the pilot.

The series was independently produced by Duplass Brothers Productions, and is is executive produced by Jay Duplass and Shuli Harel. The Duplass Brothers formerly debuted adult animated series “Animals,” which premiered at 2016 Sundance in the early days of the festival expanding to include episodics.

Eslyn, who made her directorial debut with “Biosphere,” serves as showrunner and director on “Penelope.” Eslyn is the longtime head of Duplass Brothers Productions, and was part of a discussion with IndieWire’s VP, features strategy, Chris O’Falt for a panel discussion in partnership with Adobe. The conversation focused on Eslyn and Duplass’ partnership behind projects such as HBO’s “Room 104,” “Somebody Somewhere,” Hulu’s “Sasquatch,” and of course, new release “Penelope” which also debuted a first look at the festival.

Duplass included in the series press notes that “Penelope” was inspired by his own daughters’ love of the show “Alone.” He and Eslyn explored the outdoors through camping and taking survival courses as research for the show. The eight-episode series is also an ode to stepping away from Gen Z’s dependence on technology.

Duplass previously said at Sundance 2021 that niche projects are finding the right homes at various streamers. To note, the Duplass Brothers had a four-picture deal with Netflix at the time.

“I think what distributors are finding right now is that it actually doesn’t matter if it’s a massive group of people that are watching what you’re doing. They have to be extremely passionate,” Duplass said. “So a tiny portion of the pie who truly wants this stuff is enough — and that’s basically the only reason I’m still in business.”

“Penelope” premieres September 24 on Netflix in the U.S. Check out the trailer below.

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