Eight months ago, it was announced that Atomic Monster, the production company headed up by genre regular James Wan, would be teaming with Amazon Studios to produce a psychological thriller series based on the best-selling novel 56 Days, by Catherine Ryan Howard (pick up a copy HERE). Now we have a positive update on that project, as The Hollywood Reporter learned that the 56 Days adaptation – which is going by the title Obsession – has been given the greenlight to go into production!
Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher, who were behind the Starz drama The Rook, are writing the adaptation and serve as executive producers alongside Wan and Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Rob Hackett. Danielle Bozzone will oversee the series for Atomic Monster. Howard is a co-executive producer.
Written by Howard during the pandemic lockdown in Dublin back in 2020, 56 Days is set during that very same lockdown. It tells the story of an intense, erotic romance that turns deadly. It follows two young professionals, striking out on their own in a new city, who are entangled quickly in a charged relationship that leads to a powerful intimacy that is soon cracked open by their secrets … and to murder. Here’s the book description: No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead. 56 DAYS AGO: Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores. 35 DAYS AGO: When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who — and what — he really is. TODAY: Detectives arrive at Oliver’s apartment to discover a decomposing body inside. Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime?
The Obsession adaptation is not set during the pandemic lockdown, but it will center on Oliver and Ciara, who meet randomly in a supermarket and quickly fall into a relationship. Fifty-six days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body — brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a unique crime story and a riveting, erotic, psychological thriller.
Wan provided the following statement: “We’re thrilled to collaborate with Karyn and Lisa on this propulsive and sexy thriller based on Catherine’s captivating novel. Their vision for the series brings a fresh take for contemporary audiences, while still remaining true to the genre.“
Nick Pepper, who is head of U.S. SVOD wholly owned development for Amazon MGM Studios (and that’s quite a job title), said, “It’s a privilege to be trusted by the ingenious Catherine Ryan Howard in adapting the engrossing story of 56 Days for the screen. I have no doubt that the visionary team of James Wan, Lisa Zwerling, and Karyn Usher will transform this page-turner into a must-see original series for Prime Video subscribers around the globe.“
Have you read 56 Days? If so, what do you think of it getting the TV series treatment (under the title Obsession) from James Wan and Amazon Studios? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
We recently heard that Wan and Atomic Monster are developing an adaptation of the 1988 bestseller Stinger, written by Robert R. McCammon, for the Peacock streaming service. It was also announced that a TV series set in the world of Wan’s Conjuring Universe is in the works at Max.