Prime Video announced that it has ordered two seasons of author Patricia Cornwell’s global best-selling Scarpetta from Blumhouse Television starring Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Nicole Kidman (Big Little Lies, Expats) and Oscar and Emmy-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis (The Bear, Everything Everywhere All At Once). Curtis and Emmy winning producer Kidman will also executive produce. Emmy-nominated Liz Sarnoff (Barry, Lost, Deadwood) will write, executive produce, and showrun. David Gordon Green (Halloween, Stronger) is set to direct the first two episodes. The series will premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.
The mystery thriller, based on the hit book series, follows Kay Scarpetta (Kidman), the Chief Medical Examiner, as she returns to Virginia and resumes her former position with complex relationships, both personal and professional – including her sister Dorothy (Curtis), with plenty of grudges and secrets to uncover.
Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (Ezra, The Irishman) plays former detective Pete Marino; Emmy nominee Simon Baker (Breath, Boy Swallows Universe) joins as FBI profiler Benton Wesley; Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story, The Prom) will play Lucy Farinelli-Watson, Dorothy’s daughter; BIFA winner Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean) joins as Past Kay Scarpetta, and Jake Cannavale (The Offer, Mandalorian, American Sports Story) as Past Pete Marino.
“Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta has enraptured fans for decades and I am honored that Prime Video is entrusted to bring the series to screen for our global customers,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “The most exemplary group has been assembled for the series with Liz Sarnoff at the helm with an extraordinary vision; the immensely talented Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the fantastic cast; and the top-notch team at Blumhouse.”
“I’m beyond excited that this is finally happening. This will be great fun for all, and I’m grateful for the immense talent that the show is drawing. I've always been a huge fan of Jamie Lee Curtis and Nicole Kidman. Their wanting to do this is humbling and simply awesome. Working with the brilliant Liz Sarnoff is amazing. Blumhouse and Prime Video are a dream. This has been worth waiting for, and I'm so looking forward to the show," stated Patricia Cornwell.
Jamie Lee Curtis said, “I have wanted to bring Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta to a screen, with my company, Comet Pictures, for a while. I'm particularly excited that Nicole Kidman will finally bring her to life. I'm also looking forward to playing Nicole's sister as we tell the story with Liz Sarnoff's expert care, leadership, skill, and talent, and I am excited to work again with David as our director. I know the ardent fans of the books will be very happy, and the new audience will be compelled by the characters, crimes, and mysteries that are the trifecta of Patricia's masterful storytelling. Blumhouse, Blossom, and Prime Video are the perfect partners to bring Scarpetta to you, and a warning........there WILL be BLOOD.”
Nicole Kidman added, ”I’ve been pursuing Scarpetta for nearly twenty years going back to when it was intended to be a feature, so to unite with the formidable Jamie Lee Curtis, Prime Video, Jason Blum, and David Gordon Green on the Liz Sarnoff series version of Patricia Cornwell’s epic and thrilling books feels like it was meant to be. I cannot wait to inhabit Kay Scarpetta and am so thankful to Patricia Cornwell for entrusting me with her."
“I read Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books with my Mother when they came out in the '90s,” said showrunner Liz Sarnoff. “We loved having a badass female 'boss' heroine to root for and were amazed by the specificity, complexity, and sheer addictiveness of Patricia's storytelling. I could not be more grateful and excited to be bringing these stories to life on the screen.”
“Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling Kay Scarpetta series is beloved by millions, and we’re proud to finally bring this iconic character to screens around the world with this dream team. Liz, Nicole, Jamie Lee, Patricia, and David all share a passion for this show and this character, and we’re grateful to our partners at Prime Video for supporting the vision,” said Jason Blum, Founder/CEO, Blumhouse.
Kidman will executive produce for Blossom Films, and Curtis will executive produce for Comet Pictures. Liz Sarnoff will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner. Patricia Cornwell will executive produce for P & S Projects alongside Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Chris Dickie, and Chris McCumber for Blumhouse Television and Per Saari for Blossom Films. David Gordon Green and Amy Sayres also serve as executive producers. The series is produced by Blumhouse Television and Amazon MGM Studios in association with Blossom Films and Comet Pictures.
The mystery thriller, based on the hit book series, follows Kay Scarpetta (Kidman), the Chief Medical Examiner, as she returns to Virginia and resumes her former position with complex relationships, both personal and professional – including her sister Dorothy (Curtis), with plenty of grudges and secrets to uncover.
Emmy winner Bobby Cannavale (Ezra, The Irishman) plays former detective Pete Marino; Emmy nominee Simon Baker (Breath, Boy Swallows Universe) joins as FBI profiler Benton Wesley; Oscar winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story, The Prom) will play Lucy Farinelli-Watson, Dorothy’s daughter; BIFA winner Rosy McEwen (Blue Jean) joins as Past Kay Scarpetta, and Jake Cannavale (The Offer, Mandalorian, American Sports Story) as Past Pete Marino.
“Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta has enraptured fans for decades and I am honored that Prime Video is entrusted to bring the series to screen for our global customers,” said Vernon Sanders, head of television, Amazon MGM Studios. “The most exemplary group has been assembled for the series with Liz Sarnoff at the helm with an extraordinary vision; the immensely talented Nicole Kidman, Jamie Lee Curtis, and the fantastic cast; and the top-notch team at Blumhouse.”
“I’m beyond excited that this is finally happening. This will be great fun for all, and I’m grateful for the immense talent that the show is drawing. I've always been a huge fan of Jamie Lee Curtis and Nicole Kidman. Their wanting to do this is humbling and simply awesome. Working with the brilliant Liz Sarnoff is amazing. Blumhouse and Prime Video are a dream. This has been worth waiting for, and I'm so looking forward to the show," stated Patricia Cornwell.
Jamie Lee Curtis said, “I have wanted to bring Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta to a screen, with my company, Comet Pictures, for a while. I'm particularly excited that Nicole Kidman will finally bring her to life. I'm also looking forward to playing Nicole's sister as we tell the story with Liz Sarnoff's expert care, leadership, skill, and talent, and I am excited to work again with David as our director. I know the ardent fans of the books will be very happy, and the new audience will be compelled by the characters, crimes, and mysteries that are the trifecta of Patricia's masterful storytelling. Blumhouse, Blossom, and Prime Video are the perfect partners to bring Scarpetta to you, and a warning........there WILL be BLOOD.”
Nicole Kidman added, ”I’ve been pursuing Scarpetta for nearly twenty years going back to when it was intended to be a feature, so to unite with the formidable Jamie Lee Curtis, Prime Video, Jason Blum, and David Gordon Green on the Liz Sarnoff series version of Patricia Cornwell’s epic and thrilling books feels like it was meant to be. I cannot wait to inhabit Kay Scarpetta and am so thankful to Patricia Cornwell for entrusting me with her."
“I read Patricia Cornwell's Scarpetta books with my Mother when they came out in the '90s,” said showrunner Liz Sarnoff. “We loved having a badass female 'boss' heroine to root for and were amazed by the specificity, complexity, and sheer addictiveness of Patricia's storytelling. I could not be more grateful and excited to be bringing these stories to life on the screen.”
“Patricia Cornwell’s best-selling Kay Scarpetta series is beloved by millions, and we’re proud to finally bring this iconic character to screens around the world with this dream team. Liz, Nicole, Jamie Lee, Patricia, and David all share a passion for this show and this character, and we’re grateful to our partners at Prime Video for supporting the vision,” said Jason Blum, Founder/CEO, Blumhouse.
Kidman will executive produce for Blossom Films, and Curtis will executive produce for Comet Pictures. Liz Sarnoff will write, executive produce, and serve as showrunner. Patricia Cornwell will executive produce for P & S Projects alongside Jason Blum, Jeremy Gold, Chris Dickie, and Chris McCumber for Blumhouse Television and Per Saari for Blossom Films. David Gordon Green and Amy Sayres also serve as executive producers. The series is produced by Blumhouse Television and Amazon MGM Studios in association with Blossom Films and Comet Pictures.
About Blumhouse Television
Blumhouse Television has earned critical acclaim and numerous honors for its dark, edgy fare including Emmy® awards for its productions of HBO's The Normal Heart and The Jinx, as well as the prestigious Peabody award for The Jinx and the documentary How to Dance in Ohio. Blumhouse produces provocative scripted and unscripted television series and documentaries, including the upcoming original series The Sticky, produced by Jamie Lee Curtis for Prime Video; The Bondsman, starring Kevin Bacon and from creator Grainger David and showrunner Erik Oleson, also for Prime Video; Worst Roommate Ever, and Worst Ex Ever for Netflix, which established Blumhouse Television’s first franchise. Blumhouse Television launched as an independent studio in 2017 with funding from ITV. Projects since the studio launch include Golden Globe® and Emmy® nominated HBO limited series Sharp Objects; Golden Globe®, Critics Choice® and Writers Guild® award nominated Showtime limited series The Loudest Voice; the Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird starring and executive produced by Ethan Hawke and based on the award-winning novel by James McBride. The studio produced The Purge on USA Network from writer/director/producer James DeMonaco and based on the popular film franchise; the holiday themed anthology event series Into the Dark for Hulu; and anthology series Sacred Lies created by Emmy® nominee Raelle Tucker. The studio has developed award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary films including A Secret Love produced with Ryan Murphy for Netflix; Pray Away an official selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; Pharma Bro an official selection of Hot Docs Festival,Writers Guild Award® winner Bathtubs Over Broadway and winner of the 2018 Sundance Audience Award This is Home. Blumhouse Television is the latest venture from Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, which is widely-recognized for its pioneering model of producing high-quality micro-budget films including The Purge, Get Out, The Invisible Man and Halloween.
About P & S Projects
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, P & S Projects is a production company focused on film, theatre, television, music, and digital projects involving international best selling author Patricia Cornwell and neuroscientist and musician Staci Gruber. With a number of high level projects currently in development, P&S projects is dedicated to translating original content in order to engage and enrich the lives of diverse audiences across the globe.
About Comet Pictures
In 2019 Curtis formed Comet Pictures, a film, television and podcast production company that has a first-look deal with Blumhouse. Comet’s current projects include The Lost Bus, a feature for Apple Original Films starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrara, directed by Paul Greengrass with a script by Brad Ingelsby based on Lizzie Johnson’s book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, and The Sticky, a half hour series from Prime Video based on the great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist which will debut in the fall. Podcasts include 3 seasons of Boco Haft’s best-selling Audible scripted comedy/mystery Letters From Camp, and 33 episodes of the Good Friend podcast on iHeart hosted by Curtis.
About Blossom Films
Blossom Films, dedicated to fostering creative autonomy and championing artists, was founded in 2010 by Nicole Kidman and Per Saari. Their first film, Rabbit Hole, an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, was a critical success and garnered Kidman an Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. Blossom found further success in executive-producing seasons one and two of Big Little Lies, HBO’s groundbreaking series, which garnered twenty-one Emmy nominations and eight wins, including Best Actress for Kidman and Best Miniseries or Television Film. In 2020, Blossom’s HBO limited series The Undoing, written by David E. Kelley and directed by Susanne Bier, shattered records as HBO’s most-watched show of 2020. The series picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Limited Series, a PGA Nomination for Outstanding Producer of a Limited Series, as well as Golden Globe and SAG nods for Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. Blossom made the summer hit TV adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu in 2021, which is the most-watched Hulu original ever, as well as the anthology series, Roar, for Apple in 2022, and the feature film The Family Fang in 2015. The Blossom produced limited series Love And Death, adapted by David E. Kelley and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, premiered last April on Max as the streamer’s biggest original series of 2023 and was nominated for both a BAFTA and Critic's Choice Award for best limited series. Also in 2023, the Taylor Sheridan-created Paramount + series Lioness debuted as the biggest original show of the year for that streamer. Blossom Films is currently airing the critically acclaimed Prime Video television series adaptation of Janice Lee’s best-seller Expats, directed by Lulu Wang. Blossom is in post-production on the Amazon MGM Studios feature film Holland Michigan, starring Kidman, Gael Garcia Bernal and Matthew Macfadyen, the television series adaptation of Liane Moriarty's The Last Anniversary and the Netflix series The Perfect Couple, all episodes of which are directed by Susanne Bier. Blossom is currently in production on the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu and the second season of Special Ops: Lioness for Paramount +.
Blumhouse Television has earned critical acclaim and numerous honors for its dark, edgy fare including Emmy® awards for its productions of HBO's The Normal Heart and The Jinx, as well as the prestigious Peabody award for The Jinx and the documentary How to Dance in Ohio. Blumhouse produces provocative scripted and unscripted television series and documentaries, including the upcoming original series The Sticky, produced by Jamie Lee Curtis for Prime Video; The Bondsman, starring Kevin Bacon and from creator Grainger David and showrunner Erik Oleson, also for Prime Video; Worst Roommate Ever, and Worst Ex Ever for Netflix, which established Blumhouse Television’s first franchise. Blumhouse Television launched as an independent studio in 2017 with funding from ITV. Projects since the studio launch include Golden Globe® and Emmy® nominated HBO limited series Sharp Objects; Golden Globe®, Critics Choice® and Writers Guild® award nominated Showtime limited series The Loudest Voice; the Showtime limited series The Good Lord Bird starring and executive produced by Ethan Hawke and based on the award-winning novel by James McBride. The studio produced The Purge on USA Network from writer/director/producer James DeMonaco and based on the popular film franchise; the holiday themed anthology event series Into the Dark for Hulu; and anthology series Sacred Lies created by Emmy® nominee Raelle Tucker. The studio has developed award-winning and critically acclaimed documentary films including A Secret Love produced with Ryan Murphy for Netflix; Pray Away an official selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival; Pharma Bro an official selection of Hot Docs Festival,Writers Guild Award® winner Bathtubs Over Broadway and winner of the 2018 Sundance Audience Award This is Home. Blumhouse Television is the latest venture from Jason Blum, founder of Blumhouse Productions, which is widely-recognized for its pioneering model of producing high-quality micro-budget films including The Purge, Get Out, The Invisible Man and Halloween.
About P & S Projects
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, P & S Projects is a production company focused on film, theatre, television, music, and digital projects involving international best selling author Patricia Cornwell and neuroscientist and musician Staci Gruber. With a number of high level projects currently in development, P&S projects is dedicated to translating original content in order to engage and enrich the lives of diverse audiences across the globe.
About Comet Pictures
In 2019 Curtis formed Comet Pictures, a film, television and podcast production company that has a first-look deal with Blumhouse. Comet’s current projects include The Lost Bus, a feature for Apple Original Films starring Matthew McConaughey and America Ferrara, directed by Paul Greengrass with a script by Brad Ingelsby based on Lizzie Johnson’s book Paradise: One Town’s Struggle to Survive an American Wildfire, and The Sticky, a half hour series from Prime Video based on the great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist which will debut in the fall. Podcasts include 3 seasons of Boco Haft’s best-selling Audible scripted comedy/mystery Letters From Camp, and 33 episodes of the Good Friend podcast on iHeart hosted by Curtis.
About Blossom Films
Blossom Films, dedicated to fostering creative autonomy and championing artists, was founded in 2010 by Nicole Kidman and Per Saari. Their first film, Rabbit Hole, an adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize winning play, was a critical success and garnered Kidman an Academy Award nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role. Blossom found further success in executive-producing seasons one and two of Big Little Lies, HBO’s groundbreaking series, which garnered twenty-one Emmy nominations and eight wins, including Best Actress for Kidman and Best Miniseries or Television Film. In 2020, Blossom’s HBO limited series The Undoing, written by David E. Kelley and directed by Susanne Bier, shattered records as HBO’s most-watched show of 2020. The series picked up a Golden Globe nomination for Best Limited Series, a PGA Nomination for Outstanding Producer of a Limited Series, as well as Golden Globe and SAG nods for Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant. Blossom made the summer hit TV adaptation of Liane Moriarty’s best-selling novel Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu in 2021, which is the most-watched Hulu original ever, as well as the anthology series, Roar, for Apple in 2022, and the feature film The Family Fang in 2015. The Blossom produced limited series Love And Death, adapted by David E. Kelley and directed by Lesli Linka Glatter, premiered last April on Max as the streamer’s biggest original series of 2023 and was nominated for both a BAFTA and Critic's Choice Award for best limited series. Also in 2023, the Taylor Sheridan-created Paramount + series Lioness debuted as the biggest original show of the year for that streamer. Blossom Films is currently airing the critically acclaimed Prime Video television series adaptation of Janice Lee’s best-seller Expats, directed by Lulu Wang. Blossom is in post-production on the Amazon MGM Studios feature film Holland Michigan, starring Kidman, Gael Garcia Bernal and Matthew Macfadyen, the television series adaptation of Liane Moriarty's The Last Anniversary and the Netflix series The Perfect Couple, all episodes of which are directed by Susanne Bier. Blossom is currently in production on the second season of Nine Perfect Strangers for Hulu and the second season of Special Ops: Lioness for Paramount +.