‘Firefly Lane’: Here’s the True Story That Inspired the Netflix Series
The Netflix series Firefly Lane premiered in February 2021. Fans anxiously awaited season two, which was released in December 2021. But that was only part one of season two. We now have to wait until June 2023 for the second half of season two to be released.
Those who read the book by Kristin Hannah already know the ending. Or do they? Many aspects of the series are a bit different than the novel. Hannah was inspired by a true story when she put pen to paper. Viewers will soon learn if the TV version concludes the same way.
[Spoiler Alert: This article contains spoilers for Firefly Lane.]
‘Firefly Lane’ depicts a longtime friendship
Firefly Lane is a tribute to friendships between women. Kate Mularkey (Sarah Chalke) and Tully Hart (Katherine Heigl) meet in the 1970s when they are teens (Roan Curtis and Alissa Skovbye play the teenage versions).
Cool girl Tully moves onto Firefly Lane and befriends not-so-cool Kate. Tully may be cool, but her home life is a mess, thanks to her neglectful and irresponsible mother, Cloud (Beau Garrett).
It is the beginning of a beautiful 30-year friendship. The audience follows the duo through high school, college, and the working world. We see Kate marry and have a daughter while Tully becomes a famous talk show host.
During it all, some good, some bad, and some very bad, they are there for each other. Until something happens, that may tear their friendship apart forever.
‘Firefly Lane’ is inspired by a true story
Hannah’s inspiration for Firefly Lane was right in her own family. The Kate character was based on her mother, who died of breast cancer when Hannah was just 26 years old. She told Netflix’s Tudum that she wanted to go “in search” of her mother and “try to understand who she was.”
“Many people would do therapy for this, but as a writer, I go into my own head and create her. So she is the character of Kate.” She went on to say, “I think I wanted to say on her behalf that what she did in raising us three kids was magic. I don’t know if she ever knew that.”
Hannah added that she is not Tully; she is also Kate. She framed the story around her generation, which is why Kate is her age. The series was filmed in the house she grew up in.
“We grew up in the same house — which by the way, was totally freaky when I saw it on Netflix. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s my house,’” she explained. “I was able to relive all of these magical, confusing, frightening things that had happened to myself and my friends through the years as we came of age.”
What’s happening in the ‘Firefly Lane’ series
As we await the second part of season two, we already know some things about the series. There were a few ways that the most recent season differed from the book. The biggest change was the huge rift between Kate and Tully.
The way Hannah wrote it was that when Kate was a guest on her best friend’s talk show, The Girlfriend Hour, Tully made her look like a horrible mother. The series created a different story, where Tully drove Kate’s daughter under the influence and was in a car accident.
Both stories had Kate stop speaking to Tully. We last saw the two still not speaking while Kate was diagnosed with breast cancer. Firefly Lane comes back to Netflix on June 8, 2023.
