--- title: 'Britney Spears Biopic Is Still in the Works, Liz Meriwether Says' type: 'blog post' section: 'Away From Set' format: 'Editorial feature' standfirst: 'Liz Meriwether told Vanity Fair she is only at the beginning of the Britney Spears script, which is still moving at Universal with Jon M. Chu attached. The movie has a source book and a producer, but no release date or cast yet.' author: 'Marcus Reid' published: '2026-09-01' updated: '2026-09-01' about_people: - 'Britney Spears' tags: - 'Britney Spears biopic update 2026' - 'Liz Meriwether Vanity Fair interview' - 'Britney Spears movie Jon M. Chu' - 'The Woman in Me adaptation news' - 'Britney Spears casting update' sources: - 'https://www.samaa.tv/2087356092-britney-spears-biopic-moving-forward-writer-confirms' - 'https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/seriesly-berlin-unveils-line-up-with-krank-berlin-scribe-talking/ar-AA2bkrUW' - 'https://jang.com.pk/en/72313-britney-spears-biopic-still-happening-screenwriter-makes-major-announcement-news' - 'https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/writer-britney-spears-biopic-thinks-now-right-moment-release-film' - 'https://theplaylist.net/liz-meriwether-britney-spears-biopic-right-time-20260831/' - 'https://www.justjared.com/2026/08/31/who-will-play-britney-spears-in-upcoming-biopic-current-odds-revealed-for-frontrunners/' - 'https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1414396-britney-spears-movie-moving-forward-writer-confirms' canonical: 'https://cinepixo.com/blog/britney-spears-biopic-is-still-in-the-works-liz-meriwether-says' publisher: 'CinePixo' --- # Britney Spears Biopic Is Still in the Works, Liz Meriwether Says *Liz Meriwether told Vanity Fair she is only at the beginning of the Britney Spears script, which is still moving at Universal with Jon M. Chu attached. The movie has a source book and a producer, but no release date or cast yet.* By Marcus Reid, 2026-09-01 · Away From Set Britney Spears' biopic is still moving, and screenwriter Elizabeth Meriwether says she is only at the beginning of the script. In a Vanity Fair interview published on Aug. 31, 2026, she said the project is still early, with Jon M. Chu attached to direct and Universal Pictures still behind it. That is the useful news for film readers: the movie has not drifted off into wishful talk. It still has its writer, its director, its source book, and no public release date or cast. ## Liz Meriwether is only at the beginning Meriwether's update is plain enough. She is not saying the script is nearly finished. She is saying she has just started thinking her way into it. That matters, because this kind of project can gather a lot of noise before it gathers a page. Here, the page is still being found. The writer told Vanity Fair that Spears' story felt unusually shaped by the moment in which it happened, with fame, attention, and new media all pressing in at once. That is a clean reason for the film to exist. Britney Spears was not just a big pop star with a run of hits. She was one of the most watched women on earth, and the watching never really stopped. ![Britney Spears, Roundhouse, London (Apple Music Festival 2016)](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/1a8ed7ae-12e2-4545-8e89-fbbd84ac91e9.webp) *Photo: Drew de F Fawkes · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Britney_Spears,_Roundhouse,_London_(Apple_Music_Festival_2016)_(30072896841).jpg)* ## Britney Spears' memoir still sets the frame The film is still being built from *The Woman in Me*, Spears' 2023 memoir. Universal acquired the rights to the book in August 2024, and Spears said at the time that she was working on the project with producer Marc Platt. That gives the movie a firm base. It is not being pieced together from rumor and old headlines. The life story around it is already strong enough to fill a screen. Spears broke out in September 1998 with ...Baby One More Time, then kept going with *Oops!... I Did It Again*, *Britney*, *In the Zone*, *Blackout*, and *Circus*. She also made her film debut in *Crossroads* in 2002. Then came the harder chapter: the court-ordered conservatorship that began in 2008 and lasted nearly 14 years, ending in November 2021. Any screen version of her life has to hold both things at once, the star power and the cost. That is where the casting becomes more than a parlor game. The actress who lands this role will have to move through the public shine of Britney Spears and the private weight of what followed. That is a tall order, and the movie still has not named the person who will carry it. ![Britney Spears performing in Las Vegas in July 2016](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/0d0103d2-2724-4890-b3c3-9d71a0bf5bb1.webp) ![Britney Spears during her 'Piece of Me' show](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/bf9d7440-11a1-4eea-afc1-b2d1474842dc.webp) *Photos: marcen27 from Glasgow, UK · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Britney-Spears-Vegas-July-13-2016.jpg); https://www.flickr.com/photos/marcen27/ · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Britney-Spears-Vegas-July-13-2016-3.jpg)* ## Jon M. Chu still has a blank cast sheet The director has been careful not to race ahead of the work. As AsiaOne reported, Chu said Spears will be very involved in the film, but he also said they have not really started anything yet. He said he has ideas and an approach, which is what directors say when the door is open but the furniture has not come in. The internet, of course, has already started doing its favorite thing. AsiaOne noted that Sabrina Carpenter and Sydney Sweeney were among the names suggested for the role, and Just Jared said Millie Bobby Brown, Emma Roberts, and Olivia Holt have all said they would like to play Spears in a biopic. That chatter tells you the appetite is real. It does not tell you who will get the part. I can see why people start guessing early. A role like this invites it. The actress has to hold the dance, the voice, the tabloid glare, and the person inside the glare. That is not a costume job. It is a long, exacting piece of work, and the film is still far enough away that no one has had to do it yet. ![Britney Spears 1](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/c4d05b43-771a-4092-8042-d61c1efdadfb.webp) ![Britney Spears 6](https://pokemon-dive.us-lax-4.linodeobjects.com/cinepixo/posts/2026/09/f97d5390-7fc1-421f-a792-4c7cecdddcb8.webp) *Photos: marcen27 from Glasgow, UK · [CC BY 2.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) · [source 1](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planet_Hollywood_Las_Vegas,_13_July_2016_Britney_Spears_1_(28744890995).jpg), [source 2](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Planet_Hollywood_Las_Vegas,_13_July_2016_Britney_Spears_6_(28639587192).jpg)* ## Why Meriwether thinks now is the right time Meriwether also told Vanity Fair that she has been listening to music from the years when Spears was making her own hits, partly to get back into the feel of the period. She mentioned songs like Perfume and If I'm Dancing, and she said she is close to Spears' age, which gives her a useful point of contact with the era. That does not write the script for her. It does give her a place to stand. The timing is the other part of her answer. She sees Spears' story as part of a wider look back at how women in the spotlight were treated in the 1990s and early 2000s. That is a fair reason to make a movie now. The public memory of that period has changed, and stories that once passed as normal can look different when they are seen again. For now, though, the biggest fact is also the simplest one. There is still no release date, and no one has been named to play Britney Spears. ## How this piece was made **Format:** Editorial feature ## In this piece - [Britney Spears](https://cinepixo.com/people/britney-spears) ## Sources - https://www.samaa.tv/2087356092-britney-spears-biopic-moving-forward-writer-confirms - https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/seriesly-berlin-unveils-line-up-with-krank-berlin-scribe-talking/ar-AA2bkrUW - https://jang.com.pk/en/72313-britney-spears-biopic-still-happening-screenwriter-makes-major-announcement-news - https://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/writer-britney-spears-biopic-thinks-now-right-moment-release-film - https://theplaylist.net/liz-meriwether-britney-spears-biopic-right-time-20260831/ - https://www.justjared.com/2026/08/31/who-will-play-britney-spears-in-upcoming-biopic-current-odds-revealed-for-frontrunners/ - https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1414396-britney-spears-movie-moving-forward-writer-confirms Every factual claim above is drawn from these. The reading of them is ours. Source: https://cinepixo.com/blog/britney-spears-biopic-is-still-in-the-works-liz-meriwether-says Written for CinePixo. Nothing on this page is imported prose.