Best-selling novel ‘The Couple Next Door’ optioned for TV series

The thriller The Couple Next Door by Shari Lapena was a bestseller when it was published in 2016.

Now The Couple Next Door has been optioned to be developed as a television series by Paramount Television, Anonymous Content, and Sugar23, Deadline reports.

The Couple Next Door centers around a terrible crime committed during a dinner party at Anne and Marco Conti’s next door neighbors’ apartment in Manhattan. The Contis seem like the perfect couple. Yet, as the truth about the crime begins to unfold, the couple don’t just keep secrets from the police, they keep secrets from each other.

More from News

• The Walking Dead Universe receives 3 Saturn Awards nominations
• Snap your fingers, Mattel to release Wednesday dolls and collector sets in 2024!
• Fear the Walking Dead makes TVLine’s 10 Worst Shows of 2023 List
• Disney Plus: The Muppets Mayhem will not be renewed for season 2
• Ted series on Peacock TV drops teaser and release date

Lila Feinberg, a playwright, and writer for the TV show, Younger, will write the potential series. She will also serve as executive producer along with  Head of Production, Ashley Zalta, and CEO, Michael Sugar, at Sugar23.

Feinberg is also developing Pulse, based on her award-winning, semi-autobiographical play, Vertebrae.

Anonymous Content has a first look deal with Paramount TV which led to the optioning of the novel and development of the project. The deal has also resulted in several other series, including Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and TNT’s The Alienist.

The Couple Next Door is the kind of gritty, twisty adaptation that’s been popular since Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl successfully made the leap to the big screen in 2014. Ever since numerous suspenseful bestsellers focusing on complicated women have been repurposed for both film and television.

These include the movies The Girl on the Train and Dark Places, and the TV shows Big Little Lies and the soon-to-be-released Sharp Objects.  Not all of these titles have been successful, but similar novels continue to be published and adapted.

Next: Child’s Play coming to the small screen as a TV show

Of course, at the point, The Couple Next Door isn’t a sure thing. It’s in the early stages of development, no actors have been attached, and no distributor has picked it up. We’ll see how the project continues to evolve.

Would you like to see a TV adaptation ofThe Couple Next Door? Share your opinion in the comments.