Where the Crawdads Sing Gets Movie Adaptation Starring Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens tells the fictional story of a character called Kya who grows up in a shack in the marshlands of North Carolina. As an outsider, Kya wades through her own personal struggles and somehow manages to survive and make a life for herself, that is until a body is found and she becomes the prime suspect in the murder case.

A coming-of-age tale, Where the Crawdads Sing intertwines a crime drama with undertones of resilience, survival and hope, and now, this novel is getting its own movie adaptation.

The book was released in August 2018 and by March 2019, it had sold over 1.5 million copies and by July 2020 the sales had over doubled to 6 million so it is clear why the novel has been picked up for adaptation.

In September 2018, the book was picked by Reese Witherspoon for her book club and now, Hello Sunshine’s Witherspoon, alongside Lauren Levy Neustadter will serve as producers for the film version of Where the Crawdads Sing.

Elizabeth Gabler and Erin Siminoff from 3000 Pictures are overseeing the Where the Crawdads Sing feature film adaptation. 3000 Pictures is a Sony label that is a joint partnership among Gabler, HarperCollins and Sony Pictures and the purpose of it is to create content adapted from literary material (predominately the HarperCollins catalog) for all platforms. Elizabeth Gabler leads a female-dominated team that was described as “the only female locker room in town” and she is responsible for many successful literary adaptations including; The Devil Wears Prada, Life of Pi, and Hidden Figures.

The project was formerly being created by Fox 2000, with Gabler and Siminoff at the helm. However, after the Fox-Disney merger, Disney decided to shutter Fox 2000, and Elizabeth Gabler departed for Sony, and it appears that she took this exciting project with her.

Lucy Alibar has been announced as the screenwriter for this adaptation, having previously penned the script for Beasts of the Southern Wild. While in July 2020, Olivia Newman, previously the writer and direction of Netflix’s feature film First Match, was tapped to the direct Where the Crawdads Sing.

The entire cast for the production is yet to be released, however, Daisy Edgar-Jones will be playing the role of the book’s main character Kya. Fans of the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s Normal People will know Daisy Edgar-Jones from playing Marianne and we are greatly looking forward to seeing her hit the screens again.

Sadly, Hello Sunshine has not yet announced a release date either and with the Covid-19 pandemic ongoing it’s possible that production in Hollywood has been stalled and/or delayed. In the meantime though, you can read Delia Owens’ New York Times Bestseller, Where the Crawdads Sing.