Megan Follows is coming full circle: After breaking out as Anne Shirley in “Anne of Green Gables,” she will now play its author Lucy Maud Montgomery in upcoming series “Lucy. Maud.”

“I’ve always been incredibly grateful to be introduced, as a young woman, to the power of a character who was a central figure in her own story. One thing I share with the writers [of the show] is that our lives were greatly influenced by Anne. She defined us as artists, as writers, me as an actor,” she told Variety.

“Anne of Green Gables,” about an orphaned girl coming to Prince Edward Island in the late 19th century after being adopted – by mistake – by middle-aged siblings and immediately changing their lives, premiered in 1985.

“On my way to Berlin, four different flight attendants came up to me because they recognized me from that show. They all had something personal to say about...