Universal Global Television has acquired the rights to adapt Jessica Knoll's newly released novel Helpless for the screen, with Knoll adapting the book herself and executive producing alongside two-time Academy Award nominee Stacy Sher. The deal marks another example of the continuing appetite for book-to-screen projects, and adds to Knoll's growing screen presence as a novelist-turned-screenwriter.

Helpless debuted on 7 July and is described as Knoll's "spiciest" novel yet, reportedly inspired by Sarah J. Maas's bestseller A Court of Thorns and Roses and by Knoll's own question about why many women harbour taboo sexual fantasies. Knoll's earlier work includes Luckiest Girl Alive (2015), which became a 2022 film starring Mila Kunis, The Favorite Sister (2018), and Bright Young Woman (2023), a fictionalised retelling of Ted Bundy's crimes now set for a TV adaptation with Picturestart and Fifth Season. In a statement, Knoll said she had written "the book I've been dying to read" and was excited to make the show, praising Sher and the Universal Global Television team.