It is a truth universally acknowledged that a Jane Austen fan with a “Pride and Prejudice” obsession must be in want of more adaptations.

Though modern-day audiences may know her work best through the film that earned Keira Knightley her first Oscar nod, “Pride and Prejudice”’s heroine Elizabeth Bennet has done more in 200 years than just sass Mr. Darcy in the pouring rain. From romancing a wet-shirted Colin Firth to singing in Punjabi to hunting zombies, it’s safe to say she’s done it all. In comparison, placing her in the present and giving her a video blog is pretty normal.

In “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries,” Bernie Su, a Thurgood Marshall College communication graduate, and Hank Green of VlogBrothers have updated the eponymous heroine, played by Old Globe veteran Ashley Clements, to a snarky grad student who sets out to create a vlog for her thesis with the help of her best friend Charlotte Lu (Julia Cho). Lizzie’s sisters — thoughtful Jane (Laura Spencer) and fun-loving Lydia (Mary Kate Wiles) — make frequent appearances on the vlogs. The girls’ lives are changed when wealthy medical student Bing Lee (Christopher Sean) and his sister Caroline (Jessica Jade Andres) move into town, bringing along their friend William Darcy (UCSD alumnus Daniel Vincent Gordh), a socially awkward hipster and the CEO of Pemberley Digital (a nod to the original Darcy’s stately mansion), an entertainment company.

Hilarious Austen references and zany costume theater aside, “Lizzie Bennet”’s depictions of characters’ personal growth and contemporary struggles — from careers to relationships — have struck a chord with viewers. 

“I personally am really proud of that and really happy that that’s the story we got to tell,” Wiles said on Lydia’s development. “It was very cool to be able to take this idea of a person and make her so much more full and human, [not] simply a stupid party girl.”

Allison Paige, who portrayed Darcy’s Indie music-loving sister Gigi, expressed her approbation of the series’ promotion of female empowerment. 

“[Gigi] has become such a more key element than she was in the book and in other adaptations,” she said. “I love that she’s not as shy and reserved … I just love the mischievousness of her and how she wants to get involved. I love that she is a go-getter. And she really knows who she is but at the same time is exploring who she is.”

Through 100 videos, plus four shorter spin-offs as well as transmedia elements, the series as a whole emphasizes the newfangled ideas Austen wrote about in pre-Victorian England. 

“Every girl wants to be Elizabeth Bennet and/or Jo March from ‘Little Women’ — these emblematic, powerful, strong young women that I think we all relate to,” Cho, who plays Charlotte, said. “I think a lot of our success comes from the power of that source material … We’re fortunate that our adaptation has hopefully done the original novel justice.”

In addition to the series’ YouTube videos, a Streamy-winning Transmedia crew headed by Transmedia producer Jay Bushman set up Twitter accounts for each character who all tweet in response to videos — and occasionally fans — in real-time, making the fictional universe all the more authentic. The characters have joined almost every major social network: Several have Tumblrs and Facebook pages, Jane keeps up with fashion on Pinterest and LookBook, the workaholic Ricky Collins is on LinkedIn, the notorious flirt George Wickham has an OkCupid profile and Gigi posts songs on This Is My Jam. According to Transmedia editor Alexandra Edwards, the Twitter and Facebook accounts are run by web client Sprout Social, but all other platforms are done manually by the transmedia team.

“That was really kind of mind blowing to have that weird communal experience between the audience and the characters and the actors and the writers, creating a world that was living and breathing so much that your audience is a part of it,” Wiles said.

This innovative way of storytelling has earned the series a large following, which includes almost 200,000 subscribers who have funded its recent Kickstarter campaign 770 percent over its goal of $60,000.

“You have direct access to the fans in this new medium, but when we first started this … [we] had no idea [it would become a phenomenon]. We were like, ‘Well, we might make eight episodes, and it’ll be sort of amusing and nobody watches it, so we don’t do any more,’” producer and San Diego native Jenni Powell said.

“I think one of the reasons why ‘Lizzie Bennet Diaries’ connects so well with people is because we literally are with them all day, every day. They carry us with them physically … They could be waiting in line somewhere and they could just … glance at their phone and Lizzie’s there, Darcy’s there, and they can check in whenever they have a chance to,” Bushman said.

Spencer, who plays Jane, is appreciative of how much technology is shaping entertainment and the cast’s future. 

“Nothing but good things have come from this for all of us,” she said. “We have this lovely fan base that will hopefully follow us from this point forward. That’s something that’s going to be helpful for us.”

Gordh, a Muir College graduate of theater who has starred in Muir Musical (“Hair,” “Once Upon a Mattress”) and plays “Lizzie Bennet”’s Darcy (take that, Triton eye), believes that creators, actors and audiences have much to look forward to in entertainment.

“Technology is getting better. We have these cameras that can shoot high definition and computers that are these kind of pro-sumer electronics that [people] can actually afford and learn how to use,” he said. “That’s just bound to revolutionize web content.”

Although “Lizzie Bennet” aired its last episode on March 28, its crew is already debuting a mini-series, “Welcome to Sanditon,” on May 13. Based on an unfinished Austen novel, the spin-off will star Paige reprising her role as Gigi, who continues testing a fictional app that played a critical role in “Lizzie Bennet” and uses it to show a Californian resort town’s growth. 

“It’s going to be experimental and different and be able to elicit a lot of user-generated content,” Margaret Dunlap, “Lizzie Bennet” consulting producer, writer and script supervisor, and “Sanditon” co-showrunner with Bushman, said. “It’s all set up [in the original manuscript]. You get characters, and you get setting, and it’s a great way to create a playground, because that’s basically what [Austen] did.”

“Sanditon” will be produced by Pemberley Digital, Darcy’s enterprise, which Su and Green have founded as a real company. “They really are incorporated: There’s an LLC, we get checks in the real world that say ‘Pemberley Digital’ on them,” “Sanditon” Transmedia producer Edwards said. Pemberley Digital will also produce longer vlog adaptations in the same vein as “Lizzie Bennet,” including an upcoming series to launch later this year.

In the meantime, though fans look forward to “Sanditon” and similar pieces, they will always remember the groundbreaking storytelling methods that made “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” so enduring.

“I felt in a way that we were kind of the web series thing of ‘Friends,’ like this legacy show,” Su said. “It’s only one year, but everyone was so in love with the characters and wanted to see what they did.”

Austen wrote in an 1813 letter that Elizabeth Bennet was “as delightful a character as ever appeared in print.” It’s safe to say that she’s doing pretty well on the web, too.

Check out “The Lizzie Bennet Diaries” at lizziebennet.com and “Welcome to Sanditon” at welcometosanditon.com.