Robb starred as one-armed surfer Bethany Hamilton in 2011’s Soul Surfer. She also played Violet Beauregarde in Tim Burton’s 2005 remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

The new series will follow Bradshaw as she navigates her way through her final year of high school in a small New England town. This is Carrie, pre-sex, pre-city, and—judging by Robb’s hair—pre-perm, too.

‘The focus is so much on the Carrie Bradshaw’s character and who she was at 16, 17 years old,’ CW head of development Thom Sherman told EW.com recently. ‘Basically how we frame the show is: “Carrie at 16 found her first love and it’s not a boy—it’s Man-hattan.”’

Originally, Blake Lively, Elizabeth Olsen, Selena Gomez and Emma Roberts’ names were linked to the project. Signing Robb suggests that the rest of the cast could be filled with relative unknowns. It remains to be seen how compelling The Carrie Diaries will seem to an audience base that wasn’t born during the decade in which it’s set, but we’re sure we’ll be watching... scrunchies and all.

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