Nicole Kidman will play medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in an Amazon series based on the crime novels of Patricia Cornwell, Deadline reports.
Scarpetta made her first appearance in Cornwell’s 1990 novel, Postmortem, which won the Edgar Award for best first novel. The hardworking, brilliant examiner has been featured in 25 books since, including Cause of Death, The Last Precinct, Book of the Dead, and, most recently, Livid, published last year.
Kidman will play Scarpetta in the series, which will also star Jamie Lee Curtis as Scarpetta’s sister, Dorothy Farinelli. The series will be written by Elizabeth Sarnoff, known for her work on series including Crossing Jordan, Lost, and Barry.
Executive producers of the series include Cornwell, Curtis, and Kidman. Amazon and Blumhouse Television will produce the show.
Curtis announced last year that she was working to develop a project featuring Scarpetta, according to Deadline, saying at the time, “Patricia Cornwell is a bonafide literary trailblazer, and collaborating with her to bring her beloved character Kay Scarpetta to life through the power of television and to introduce her to an entirely new audience is exciting.”
Amazon declined to comment to Deadline on the project, but Curtis confirmed it on Instagram, writing, “My SECRET got LEAKED! A three year labor of love and respect is in the final stages of the business part of show business and I couldn't be more excited and committed and passionate to be partnering with Patricia Cornwell, Nicole Kidman, and Liz Sarnoff, Jason Blum and Amazon and I can’t wait till you all meet Scarpetta!”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
