Australian Author Benjamin Stevenson’s Hit Murder Mystery Ordered to Series by Prime Video
Australian author Benjamin Stevenson’s bestselling novel Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is heading to the screen, with Amazon MGM Studios ordering a new series adaptation for Prime Video. The series is based on Stevenson’s Australian novel and its Australian-created characters, although the screen adaptation will relocate the story to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.
Penn Badgley will star as Ern Cunningham, while The Holdovers writer David Hemingson will adapt the novel and serve as showrunner and executive producer. Stevenson is also on board as an executive producer.
The darkly comedic murder mystery follows Ern, a mystery-writing expert who reluctantly attends a family reunion to welcome his brother Michael home from prison, despite being the person who helped convict him.
When a frozen body is discovered and a snowstorm leaves the family trapped together, Ern finds himself caught up in a new mystery. Making matters more complicated, everyone in his family has already killed someone, whether by accident or otherwise.
An Australian story heads to the screen
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is the first novel in Stevenson’s Ernest Cunningham mystery series.
The book became a bestseller in Australia before reaching readers internationally, and has since been followed by further Ernest Cunningham mysteries.
The Prime Video adaptation will take the story to Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, but its origins remain with Stevenson’s Australian-created novel and characters.
Stevenson said he was excited by the team’s vision for bringing the book and Ernest Cunningham to the screen, praising Badgley’s interpretation of Ern and the wit and heart Hemingson has brought to the adaptation.
The series marks another pathway for Australian creative work to reach international audiences, with an Australian author’s story now being adapted for a global streaming platform.
Source: Deadline
