Phil Lord, Chris Miller, Steven Yeun Gilbert Flores/Variety/Getty Images; Roy Rochlin/Getty Images In deal that showcases the short story as a dominant form of source material, Netflix has picked Understudy, a hot TV package that has Steven Yeun and Phil Lord and Chrill Miller attached in various capacities.
“Understudy,” the short story, is written by best-selling sci-fi and horror author Nicholas Binge. Binge is also attached to write the adaptation.
Yeun’s Celadon Pictures and Lord Miller will executive produce the series as part of their first-look deals with Netflix. Lord and Miller, who earlier this year saw their Project Hail Mary score rave reviews as well as $684.3 million at the box office, are developing with an eye to direct the pilot.
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Yeun is not attached to star at this stage as no deals have been made in that department but it is well-suited to him. Sources say the story centers on an actor who is hired for a unique role in South Korea. Before long, bodies start dropping, crimes are being committed, and the actor slowly realizes he’s at the center of a far-reaching plan.
The short story grabbed Hollywood immediately. Dozens producers chased it and seven studios bid on it. In the end, sources say Netflix paid $1 million for the short story. Oh, and one more figure: the short story is five pages long.
Netflix had no comment on the deal numbers.
Exec produing will be Lord, Miller, along with Aditya Sood and Dan Shear for Lord Miller; Yeun and Christina Oh for Celadon; and Binge.
Binge, already highly-regarded in the literary world, has several of his books set up for adaptation around Hollywood. His novel Dissolution, is currently in development at Sony Pictures with Eric Heisserer adapting and Chronology and Temple Hill producing. His newest novel, the crime story White Smoke, written under the pseudonym Nick Brucker, sold to A24 UK at auction with Benedict Cumberbatch attached to star. He is repped by UTA and Alexander Cochran at Greyhound Literary.
Yeun gained a fanbase playing one of the standout characters on AMC’s The Walking Dead, and earned an best actor Oscar nomination for his performance in the 2020 drama Minari. More recently, he earned Emmys for his work on Netflix’s limited series Beef and is one of the voice stars of Amazon’s hit animated series Invincible. He is repped by CAA and Hansen Jacobson.
Lord and Miller are coming off of a silky smooth five Emmy wins (from 11 nominations) for Spider-Noir, the Spider-Man-based series they exec produced and that is not getting a second season. They are repped by UTA and Johnson Shapiro.
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