You author Caroline Kepnes is writing 'emotional' and 'creepy' new horror series
Caroline Kepnes, whose You novels were turned into the massive Netflix hit, has revealed she is adapting her own short story, The Attentionist, for a new project.
You author Caroline Kepnes is working on a new "emotional creepy horror" series.
The writer, whose thriller novels about serial killer Joe Goldberg were adapted into a five-season hit for Netflix with Penn Badgley in the lead role, has announced a new series coming to YouTube.
As reported by Variety, her 2022 short story The Attentionist will be adapted into a short-form project for the platform.
The tale, which first appeared in Tor Nightfire's anthology Dark Stars, is set in 1990s Cape Cod, with year-round locals having to live alongside part time summer residents.
The first eight-episode season will focus on awkward teenager Maeve, 14, and her older sister, who both want to break into the waterfront elite.
Maeve sparks a phone call romance with a boy from the local boat club, but gets drawn into something sinister when the voice takes a terrifying turn.
Caroline told Variety: "Sometimes it feels like a lakeside slasher, and sometimes it feels like a boy-meets-girl oceanside summer romance.
"I wrote The Attentionist as a mashup of genres and being at the helm of the adaptation is quite literally a dream come true.
"I wanted to combine my love of emotional creepy horror with my affection for small town family drama, and set it in the veiled, insular world of the Cape where I grew up.”
The project is set to shoot on location at Cape Cod, where Kepnes is from, while casting for the key roles is underway.
The author added: “During our first scouting trip on the Cape for The Attentionist, I found out You made the New York Times best thrillers list while at one of my favorite local haunts with the production team.
"It feels like my mom is looking down on all of it and smiling, my dad too.
“And this is one of those sick short stories that really disturbed her, so I hope they have YouTube in heaven.”
You ran for five seasons on Netflix, while Kepnes' fifth novel in the series, You First, was released in June.
That book is an origin story for Joe, following him as a 17-year-old man in New York City after 9/11.
