Daisy Ridley, best known for her breakout role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” will be starring in and executive producing the upcoming Miramax TV limited series “The Christie Affair.” The project is based on Nina de Gramont’s best-selling novel, which reimagines beloved mystery novelist Agatha Christie’s real-life 11-day disappearance.
Miramax TV will develop and produce the murder mystery, with British writer Juliette Towhidi (“The Essex Serpent”) adapting the script. The logline is as follows: In 1926, when her husband’s affair became public, Agatha Christie vanished for 11 days. In this reimagining, told through the eyes of her husband’s mistress Nan O’Dea (Ridley), Nan and Agatha become entwined in each other’s lives in ways neither expected.
Gotham Group’s Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Rich Green, Jeremy Bell and DJ Goldberg are executive producing. Marina Niel is supervising the project for Miramax UK.
“We couldn’t be more grateful to be joined by Daisy on this incredible project – as both the star as well as our producing partner”, Marc Helwig, Head of Worldwide Television at Miramax TV, said in a statement. “Daisy is one of the most captivating and talented actors working today, and we’re excited for her to bring Nina de Gramont’s fascinating ‘Nan O’Dea’ to life.
“The Christie Affair” was published by St. Martin’s Press in February of this year, drawing loosely off of late ’20s newspaper reports tracking Christie’s mysterious and sudden vanishing. Several unanswered questions remain about the author’s disappearance, which involve her abandoning her car on the side of the road and penning several letters to confidantes and loved ones. After she resurfaced, Christie refused to comment on the matter, which had spawned a nationwide hunt for her. The novel became a UK No. 1 bestseller, and was included on the New York Times Bestseller list, as well as Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine Book Club.
The 2018 British TV movie, Channel 5’s “Agatha and the Truth of Murder,” previously touched on the subject of the writer’s disappearance. In the alternative history drama, Christie becomes involved in solving a real-life murder case in the span of the 11 days.
Ridley can next be seen starring in and producing the indie drama “Sometimes I Think About Dying,” based on the play “Killers” by Kevin Armento and 2019 short film “Sometimes I Think About Dying.” She is also starring in Neil Burger’s “The Marsh King’s Daughter,” an adaptation of the psychological-thriller novel of the same name; and will star in Joachim Rønning‘s “Young Woman and the Sea.” The film, based on Glenn Stout’s novel of Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle, the first woman to ever swim across the English Channel, will be released on Disney+ in 2023. Aside from starring as Rey in the “Star Wars” franchise, she was also in “Murder on the Orient Express,” the 2017 film adaptation of one of Christie’s beloved murder-mystery novels.
Ridley is repped by CAA and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
Towhidi previously wrote the award-winning screenplay for “Calendar Girls,” the BBC/PBS Masterpiece production of “Death Comes to Pemberley,” 2014 biographical drama “Testament of Youth” (starring Alicia Vikander, Kit Harington and Taron Egerton), beloved rom-com “Love, Rosie” and, most recently, Apple TV+’s “The Essex Serpent,” with Tom Hiddleston and Claire Danes.
