Tudum! Netflix has emerged victorious in a fiercely contested match between its major rivals for the rights to develop the bestselling young adult novel They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera into a series. This is according to the latest report from Deadline, which also confirms that Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen remains on board as executive producer and will provide the script for the show’s pilot episode. Van Dusen had since jumped on board the project following his exit from Bridgerton after the regency period drama’s second season.
They Both Die at the End tells the bittersweet story of its two main characters, Mateo Torrez and Rufus Emeterio. Both are strangers in the beginning but would end up as star-crossed lovers after they both receive a call from Death-Cast, a program capable of accurately predicting when someone will die, that they would die the same day. Luckily for the duo, their world also includes Last Friend, a handy app where folks nearing their “End day” can meet up and make, well, a last friend. With only 24 hours left before they both kick the bucket, Mateo and Rufus are able to find each other via the trusty app where both decide that they want to share more than the same “End day.” They embark on a last few hours of adventure that is equal parts distressing and uplifting. Together, the strangers-turned-friends connect on a deep level while crossing off items from their bucket lists.
Silvera‘s tragic novel was published in 2017 and quickly climbed to the number one spot on the New York Times best-selling list. The book had a popularity resurgence in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, sitting atop the coveted list for a whopping 15 consecutive months. Towards the ease of the pandemic, the novel became the most-sold young adult novel of 2021. They Both Die at the End also made history as the first YA novel with queer Latinx characters to top the NYT best-selling list. With such thumping success, it wasn’t long before the big studios came calling. By the spring of 2021, Entertainment One had snapped up the rights to the book.
Shortly after, Van Dusen declared his interest in developing the project into a series, naming it as one of the projects he was moving to after parting ways with Shonda Rhimes‘ Bridgerton. They Both Die at the End will now see Dusen return to the streamer after what was a short absence. However, this won’t be the first time a major platform has attempted to develop the book; HBO was the first to embark on that path, choosing to develop the book into a limited series with Chris Kelly set to direct and J.J. Abrams and Ben Stephenson to serve as executive producers. Unfortunately, the development failed to come to fruition for undisclosed reasons.
Van Dusen‘s first collaboration with Netflix was a massive success that both parties will be hoping to replicate with this latest project – Bridgerton was and still is a one-of-a-kind show that pulled in the kind of numbers that impressed Netflix with the first and second seasons becoming the streamer’s most popular English language show for a protracted period. The reward for that success was a third and fourth season order as well as a prequel order. Netflix has practically shown its commitment to diversity and inclusion and a queer love story such as this one accurately aligns with the streamer’s objectives.
Silvera is expanding the world where They Both Die at the End is set with the recent release of the prequel book, The First to Die at the End which matched the success of its predecessor. The second book published on Oct. 4, 2022, centers on the rise of the Death-Cast program. Should They Both Die at the End become a rating hit for the streamer, then the on-screen adaptation could expand this budding universe.
Yellowjackets executive producer Drew Comins and music superstar Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, known professionally as Bad Bunny, will join Dusen to serve as executive producers for the series. With production now in full swing, the coming weeks are set to include more updates about the series which fans of the book will certainly be anticipating. As always, stay tuned at Collider for those updates.
via Collider