Amazon signs up Nicole Kidman and Jamie Lee Curtis for two seasons of ‘Scarpetta’

Amazon’s Prime Video platform has signed Jamie Lee Curtis and Nicole Kidman to two seasons of an adaptation of bestselling crime novelist Patricia Cornwell‘s beloved Kay Scarpetta book series.

Ariana DeBose has also been added to the cast, along with The Irishman‘s Bobby Cannavale and Simon Baker.

As reported back in February, Curtis and her Comet Pictures company had been itching to adapt Cornwell’s work and teamed up with another fan — Kidman — and her Blossom Films company to have her co-produce and star as Cornwell’s famed forensic pathologist.

Curtis will play another main character in the two-dozen-strong book series, Kay’s sister Dorothy, while DeBose will appear as Lucy Farinelli-Watson, Dorothy’s daughter.

In the announcement, Curtis said in part, “I have wanted to bring Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta to a screen … for a while,” noting, “I’m particularly excited that Nicole Kidman will finally bring her to life.” 

She added, “I know the ardent fans of the books will be very happy, and the new audience will be compelled by the characters, crimes, and mysteries that are the trifecta of Patricia’s masterful storytelling.” Curtis ended with a warning: “There WILL be BLOOD.”

Kidman said her desire to adapt Cornwell’s “epic and thrilling books” goes back “nearly 20 years,” expressing her excitement to “unite with the formidable Jamie Lee Curtis.”

Kidman added the project “feels like it was meant to be.”

“I cannot wait to inhabit Kay Scarpetta and am so thankful to Patricia Cornwell for entrusting me with her,” Kidman said.

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