Daisy Edgar-Jones to star in 'Where The Crawdads Sing'

The upcoming adaptation of Delia Owens' Where The Crawdads Sing has found its lead. Daisy Edgar-Jones is set to take on the role of protagonist Kya, a young woman who grows up alone in North Carolina during the 1950s and '60s.Edgar-Jones’ casting announcement was made on October 21, almost two years after Reese Witherspoon selected the novel for her book club. Witherspoon posted about Owens' debut novel back in September 2018. “I can’t even express how much I love this book,” wrote Witherspoon, who applauded the novel’s fierce and fearless main character. “There is so much to her story: romance, mystery, and a murder... and it takes place in the breathtaking backdrop of the South. I didn’t want this story to end!”

 

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I can’t even express how much I love this book! My September pick for @reesesbookclubxhellosunshine is #WhereTheCrawdadsSing by @authordeliaowens. It’s about a young woman named Kya, who’s left to raise herself in the marshes of North Carolina when her family abandons her at a young age. There is so much to her story: romance, mystery, and a murder... and it takes place in the breathtaking backdrop of the South. I didn’t want this story to end! ?✨

A post shared by Reese Witherspoon (@reesewitherspoon) on Sep 6, 2018 at 10:58am PDT

By December 2018, Witherspoon had acquired the rights to the film along with her Hello Sunshine production company. Lucy Alibar, who was nominated for an Oscar for co-writing 2012’s Beasts of the Southern Wild, will adapt the novel. Director Olivia Newman, who made her feature debut in 2018 with First Match, will be behind the camera for the project.The British actor is best known for her role as Marianne on Normal People. One of the buzziest shows of 2020, the limited series was adapted by Normal People author Salley Rooney and Alice Birch and directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Hettie Macdonald. The series follows Edgar-Wright’s Marianne and Paul Mescal’s Connell as high schoolers who have a secret love affair and continue their complicated relationships throughout university. Incorporating themes of abuse, depression, class and trauma, the BBC production earned four Emmy nominations. In addition to Normal People, Edgar-Jones also starred in the 2019 HBO and BBC series Gentleman Jack, as well as last year’s War of the Worlds.[video_embed id='2058425']More casting news: Meet the new Tiger Lily[/video_embed]Owens' novel was released in 2018 to critical acclaim. The story centers around Kya, who is abandoned by her mother, siblings and eventually her father while she is still a child. Shunned by the people in town, the young girl is left to fend for herself in the swamps of North Carolina. Thanks to the kindness of a local tuck shop owner and a young boy who befriends her and teaches her to read, Kya thrives in her surroundings. Her promising future is threatened when the body of a popular young man is discovered, and Kya is named as the only suspect in his murder.Where The Crawdads Sing sat at the top of the New York Times Bestseller list for 32 weeks over 2019 and 2020. Amazon named the novel its top-selling fiction book of 2019 after selling 4.5 million copies. The book was the first piece of fiction written by Owens, a zoologist, who had previously only published memoirs about her work studying animals in Africa.Where the Crawdads Sing will be the eighth film produced by Witherspoon’s hugely successful Hello Sunshine, which previously brought to the big screen the adaptations of Cheryl Strayed’s Wild and Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl. On the TV side, Hello Sunshine has adapted Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies and Celest Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere. In addition to Owens' novel, Hello Sunshine is also currently in pre-production on Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Daisy Jones and the Six and Sarah Haywood’s The Cactus.[video_embed id='2057035']Before you go: Gal Gadot starring as Cleopatra sparks criticism[/video_embed]