Gregory Maguire's Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West inspired an award-winning musical that continues in New York, London and in several touring productions. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images)Actress and producer Salma Hayek is teaming up with U.S. network ABC to bring Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West to television.

Through their Ventanarosa Productions, Hayek and her working partner Jose Tamez are now developing an eight-hour miniseries based on Gregory Maguire's bestselling novel.

Published in 1995, Maguire's tale tells the back story of the two powerful witches Dorothy meets in The Wizard of Oz: the glittery Glinda and green-skinned Elphaba. The bestselling novel challenges preconceived beliefs about good and evil in the magical land and explores what leads the latter to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West.

Salma Hayek's TV adaptation of Maguire's bestselling novel won't be a musical. (Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)Erik Jendresen, one of the producers of the acclaimed series Band of Brothers, is writing the Wicked TV adaptation.

Maguire's tale also inspired the blockbuster 2003 Broadway musical Wicked, which won three Tony Awards in 2004. Just this month, the London and Broadway productions set new records for the highest single-week box office gross for each respective city. Touring productions (which included a visit to Toronto in 2010) also continue to fare well.

However, the new TV project will not be a musical.

Hayek, who brought the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea to ABC (where it was reborn as Ugly Betty), is also teaming up with the network to adapt another Latin soap for North American audiences.

Based on the original Argentine series Los Roldan, the comedy series follows a working-class man who suddenly becomes the head of a major company after he saves the life of its wealthy founder.