TV
‘The Quiet Tenant’ – Blumhouse Acquires Serial Killer Novel for Series or Streaming Movie
Blumhouse has closed on a significant book deal for Clémence Michallon’s debut thriller The Quiet Tenant, an official press release sent out this afternoon lets us know.
“An expertly paced psychological thriller…[with] a white-knuckle climax” (New York Times), The Quiet Tenant has taken the publishing world by storm with rights sold in thirty countries. Blumhouse Television will develop as a premium limited series or streaming movie.
One of the most-anticipated novels of the year (IndieNext, GoodReads), The Quiet Tenant has just been published by Knopf in the U.S. and Abacus in the U.K. Hailed as “spell-binding” (Megan Abbott), “absolutely brilliant” (Brad Thor), “creepy, claustrophobic, and compelling” (Vogue), and a “tour de force of suspense and character” (The Big Thrill), the novel introduces author Clémence Michallon as an important new voice in the suspense genre.
“I read Clémence’s novel in one sitting and was riveted. The story has all the elements of a great screen adaptation,” said Jason Blum, founder and CEO of Blumhouse.
“Jason Blum is one of the most dynamic producers working today,” said Michallon, “with an enviable slate of motion picture and television credits, and every one of them has viewers tethered to the screen. His vision for bringing The Quiet Tenant to viewers is incredibly strong. I am thrilled he has taken an interest in my work and to be collaborating with him on this project.”
Michallon will executive produce on the project.
The Quiet Tenant is a serial killer novel with a twist: one centering not on the murderer but on those impacted by his crimes. “Haunting but never prurient” (Alafair Burke), The Quiet Tenant is told solely through the perspectives of three women in the killer’s life: his daughter, his girlfriend, and the captive he has earmarked for death.
Of the way she has chosen to tell this story, Michallon says: “I knew from the beginning that my serial killer would not get to speak. I’m a reporter by trade, so I took writing an authentic serial killer novel as a great responsibility. Since the serial killer here victimizes women, there was something important in the centering of female voices.”
A searing thriller and an astute study of trauma, survival, and the dynamics of power, The Quiet Tenant promises to be one of the most talked-about novels of the year.
Himesh Patel (Tenet, Don’t Look Up) will star opposite Danielle Deadwyler (The Woman in the Yard) in Ryan Coogler’s reboot of “The X-Files“, which has wrapped filming on the pilot.
Patel confirmed the news in a chat with The Direct, while reiterating that he and Deadwyler play new characters.
“I don’t want to say anything that’s going to get me disappeared. Needless to say, myself and Danielle Deadwyler are playing completely new characters, and we just wrapped on the pilot. If we get to do more… we’ll see where we go from there,” Patel said.
That last sentence is noteworthy, as Patel is reminding that Hulu has only ordered the pilot so far. A full series order has yet to be greenlit.
It’s a good reminder, considering that Hulu also ordered a pilot for the “Buffy: New Sunnydale” reboot that was filmed and delivered earlier this year, only for the streamer to send shockwaves when it opted not to move forward with the series.
As for “The X-Files” pilot, Sinners filmmaker Ryan Coogler writes and directs the pilot. Jennifer Yale (“The Copenhagen Test”) serves as showrunner.
Himesh Patel and Danielle Deadwyler play two highly decorated but vastly different FBI agents who form an unlikely bond when they are assigned to a long-shuttered division devoted to cases involving unexplained phenomena.
Patel and Deadwyler previously co-starred together on “Station Eleven.”
Other actors who have signed on for guest roles include Amy Madigan, Steve Buscemi, Ben Foster, Devery Jacobs, Lochlyn Munro, Tantoo Cardinal, Joel D. Montgrand, and Sofia Grace Clifton.
“The X-Files” originally ran for nine seasons between 1993 and 2002, with two additional seasons arriving in 2016 and 2018. 218 episodes were produced in total, along with two feature films: 1998’s The X-Files: Fight the Future and 2008’s The X-Files: I Want to Believe.
Himesh Patel in “Station Eleven”
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