Penn Badgley will return to the murder, secrets and complicated relationships world, but the next mystery role will be different from the one that made him a global star. After completing a five-year run as Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s psychological thriller "You", the actor will play in Amazon’s new darkly comic mystery series "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" to provide Badgley with more opportunity to delve into murder but his character is not a calculating killer hiding behind a simple life.
Badgley is going to play Ern Cunningham, a professional mystery novelist whose knowledge of fictional crimes will come in handy when his real-life family gets involved in a murder mystery. The idea immediately sets him up as a contrast to his previous television role. Joe Goldberg was manipulating people and covering up his crimes and Ern is a writer who knows the structure and clues of murder stories from a professional view. His obsession with mysteries could be useful as the mystery around him gets more suspicious.
The upcoming series is expected to balance traditional whodunit with dark comedy and dysfunctional family dynamics. The story will be about not only the investigation of a murder but also the complicated relationships of the Cunningham family members. Ern being a mystery writer adds a layer to the story as he knows the tricks and conventions and expectations of working on a murder investigation.
That concept could also allow the series to play with the audience’s expectations. Badgley’s audience (who know him best as Joe Goldberg) will likely associate him with mystery deaths and dark motives but "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" seems to have a totally different challenge for him. Rather than being at the heart of a murder plot as the culprit, Ern is trying to find out what is happening in his own family.
The series is being developed by David Hemingson, known for the work on "The Holdovers" and "Kitchen Confidential". Hemingson is set up as both showrunner and executive producer who has experience in comedy and character-driven storytelling in the project. Badgley will also executive produce alongside Stevenson, and Fifth Season and Made Up Stories are co-producers as well.
What is attractive to the project is its source material. The novel "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" is based on the thriller with sharp humour and family drama; it’s not just about the crime itself but about the character.
The novel’s meta approach is especially relevant to the television adaptation. Ern Cunningham is not merely an ordinary person in a very tough situation but someone who writes murder mysteries himself. He knows the rules of the genre and how fiction is made and what’s the process of doing so. Translating that perspective to television could give the Amazon series an opportunity to embrace and poke fun at the old mystery conventions.
As Badgley moves on from "You", the series would be an interesting next step. Joe Goldberg became one of the actor’s most recognizable roles, as the obsessive behaviour and increasingly disturbing actions drove the Netflix series for five seasons. Going into a dark comedy mystery would give Badgley the element of suspense that he had been able to keep in his work with the darker comedy, but more of a lighter and self-aware part of his acting.
At this point in time there is no official release date for "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone". Details about the cast and production timeline will also come during the course of the series. But Badgley’s involvement and the novel’s huge fan base make this project one to watch for those who like murder mysteries with a bit of humour.
With a professional mystery writer at the helm, a complicated family and a real murder who is about to reveal secrets, "Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone" is a perfect crime series. And for fans of Penn Badgley, it also allows us to see the actor stepping into a totally different place from a completely new perspective.
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