Penn Badgley is back in a murder mystery with Amazon’s new series

Penn Badgley will star as Ern Cunningham in Amazon’s darkly comic series adaptation of a bestselling murder mystery

Amazon MGM Studios has ordered a series adaptation of Benjamin Stevenson’s bestselling murder mystery Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, with Penn Badgley set to star as the lead character.

The darkly comedic series will follow Ern Cunningham, a mystery-writing expert who reluctantly attends a family reunion in Vermont to welcome his brother Michael home from prison. Ern previously helped convict his brother, but the tense reunion takes an even darker turn when a frozen body is discovered and a snowstorm traps the family together.

As more people begin dying, Ern must use his knowledge of mysteries to uncover the killer. The series’ premise centres on a family in which every member has killed someone, whether intentionally or by accident.

David Hemingson, known for The Holdovers and Kitchen Confidential, will adapt the novel and serve as showrunner and executive producer. Badgley will also executive produce alongside Stevenson, while Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Jeanne Snow of Made Up Stories will executive produce. Fifth Season and Made Up Stories are producing the series with Amazon MGM Studios.

The project marks Badgley’s return to a murder-focused television role following his acclaimed performance as serial killer Joe Goldberg in Netflix’s You, which concluded its five-season run in 2025. He is also known for Gossip Girl and films including Easy A and Margin Call.

Stevenson’s novel, first published in 2021 in Australia and released in the US in 2022, launched the Ernest Cunningham book series. The story has since been followed by Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect and other instalments.

The adaptation was previously developed at HBO in 2022 but did not move forward. Amazon’s series will now bring the darkly humorous mystery to Prime Video, although a release date has not yet been announced.