Penn Badgley to Star in Murder Mystery ‘Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone’ at Prime Video
Developing story first seen 5 hours ago
Prime Video has confirmed a series order for the murder mystery Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, with Penn Badgley set to lead and David Hemingson appointed showrunner. The adaptation brings Benjamin Stevenson’s bestselling novel to television and reinforces Badgley’s move towards dark crime material following You, although no release date or episode count has been announced.
Badgley will play Ernest “Ern” Cunningham, a mystery-writing expert attending a Vermont family reunion to welcome home the brother he helped convict, when a body is found and a snowstorm traps the family together. Fifth Season and Made Up Stories are producing, while Hemingson, Badgley, Stevenson and executives including Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky will executive produce; Stevenson’s 2022 book has since grown into a four-title mystery series, with a fifth novel in progress.
- Prime Video orders Penn Badgley murder-mystery series.
- Badgley plays a writer trapped with his murderous family.
- The show adapts Benjamin Stevenson’s bestselling novel.
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Penn Badgley is an American actor best known for playing Joe Goldberg in the psychological thriller You. David Hemingson is a television writer and producer whose previous work includes the comedy-drama series The Big C.
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone is a comic crime novel by Australian author Benjamin Stevenson, first published in 2022. It follows Ern Cunningham, a writer who specialises in murder mysteries and becomes caught up in a real investigation during a family gathering.
Prime Video is Amazon’s streaming service, which commissions and distributes original television programmes internationally. The project is being made by production companies Fifth Season and Made Up Stories, and is part of the continuing trend of popular crime novels being adapted for streaming television.
Full account
Prime Video has ordered a television adaptation of Benjamin Stevenson’s murder-mystery novel Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, with Penn Badgley set to lead the cast. David Hemingson, whose recent work includes The Holdovers, will serve as showrunner and executive producer on the project, which is being made with Fifth Season and Made Up Stories.
Badgley will play Ernest ‘Ern’ Cunningham, a mystery-writing specialist who joins a family gathering in rural Vermont to mark the release of his brother Michael from prison. The reunion is fraught because Ern helped secure Michael’s conviction. A body found frozen in the snow and a severe storm that leaves the family cut off turn the occasion into a confined murder investigation.
The premise centres on Ern’s growing suspicion of his relatives: each member of the family is said to have killed someone, whether accidentally or deliberately. The programme is intended as a darkly comic take on the whodunnit format, combining the family’s history with an escalating series of deaths.
Hemingson will executive produce alongside Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Jeanne Snow of Made Up Stories, Molly Allen, Stevenson and Badgley. Stevenson’s 2022 book began an Ernest Cunningham mystery series that currently comprises four novels, with another in progress. No release date or wider casting has been announced.
Where outlets differ
Source 1 describes the project as having received a formal series order, while Source 2 calls it ‘in development’, though both present it as a Prime Video series.
Source 1 says Ern travels to Vermont for a family reunion, whereas Source 2 characterises this as a reluctant return to his hometown in rural Vermont.
Source 2 adds career context about Badgley’s roles in You and Gossip Girl, and mentions forthcoming films; Source 1 concentrates on the production announcement, creative team and statements from those involved.
Source 2 stresses the potential for later seasons because several books exist, while Source 1 notes the same publishing history but includes more extensive comments from Hemingson, Stevenson, the producers and Amazon MGM.
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