When Netflix pivoted from just being a DVD-by-mail rental service into the space of streaming movies and TV shows, it fully revolutionized how we consume media. By allowing instant access to hundreds of titles (eventually growing to thousands), subscribers could stumble across an entirely unknown movie that merely looked interesting, potentially introducing them to all-new classics. Additionally, it meant that TV shows that might not have earned enough viewership in their initial run could garner new enthusiasm, bringing that title back into the zeitgeist. For some beloved series, Netflix has provided salvation. Shows like Manifest, Arrested Development, and Lucifer had all concluded their runs on their original networks, only for Netflix to bring them back from the dead. The streamer has provided a lifeline for series so often, in fact, that virtually every TV series cancellation almost immediately results in campaigns for Netflix to step in to save them. Some series even became so successful on the streamer that audiences are entirely oblivious to their lives before their tenures on Netflix. You, based on Caroline Kepnes’ novel of the same name, debuted on Lifetime in 2018 before Netflix acquired the streaming rights. When Lifetime opted not to renew the series, Netflix stepped in to keep the show going until Season 5. After that massive streaming success, Kepnes is returning to streaming with a new adaptation, with Variety confirming she’s set to make her directorial debut with The Attentionist.
Kepnes adapts the project from her own 2022 short story of the same name, which originally was published in Tor Nightfire’s horror anthology Dark Stars. The outlet described the events of the story:
“Set in the ‘90s in a Cape Cod neighborhood where year-round working locals live alongside part-time summer residents, the eight-episode first season follows an awkward 14-year-old named Maeve and her older sister. As the girls ache for a way into the glittering world of the waterfront elite, a secret phone romance with a boy from the local boat club finally makes that dream feel possible. But when the voice on the line begins to reveal something monstrous, Maeve doesn’t hang up, drawing her family deeper into the dark.”
One unexpected twist with the project is, despite all of the acclaim You and Kepnes earned at Netflix, The Attentionist will instead be heading to YouTube. “Sometimes it feels like a lakeside slasher, and sometimes it feels like a boy-meets-girl oceanside summer romance,” Kepnes revealed to Variety. “I wrote The Attentionist as a mashup of genres and being at the helm of the adaptation is quite literally a dream come true. I wanted to combine my love of emotional creepy horror with my affection for small town family drama, and set it in the veiled, insular world of the Cape where I grew up.”
The adaptation is currently in the casting process and is set to shoot on Cape Cod. The Attentionist doesn’t yet have a premiere date.
You
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