New Amazon Murder Mystery
Penn Badgley will star in Amazon's upcoming adaptation of Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone.
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Key Points
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Ern Cunningham is described as a mystery-writing expert, a detail that frames the series as driven by his professional persona as the family’s central hunter of clues during the reunion.
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The project previously had limited-series development at HBO in 2022 with Made Up Stories and Fifth Season producing, but it did not move forward there before shifting to Amazon MGM Studios for Prime Video.
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The action unfolds in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, with a snowstorm trapping the family inside as deaths begin to mount, a detail emphasized across press materials.
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Benjamin Stevenson’s Ernest Cunningham mystery series currently includes four novels, with the author writing a fifth, signaling potential for ongoing TV installments beyond a single season.
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Jeanne Snow (Made Up Stories) joins Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky as executive producers, with Molly Allen and Stevenson also attached; Fifth Season and Made Up Stories are co-producing.
Penn Badgley is returning to a high-profile starring role in Amazon MGM Studios's new murder mystery series Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, based on Benjamin Stevenson's bestselling novel. The dark comedy follows Ern Cunningham, a mystery-writing expert, who gets trapped at a family reunion in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom when a snowstorm hits and bodies start piling up. David Hemingson, known for The Holdovers, will write and showrun the series for Prime Video.
The project brings together top-tier producers including Fifth Season and Made Up Stories, with executive producers Bruna Papandrea and Steve Hutensky attached. This marks Badgley's biggest role since You wrapped, and taps into Stevenson's four-book Ernest Cunningham mystery series—with a fifth book currently in the works, signaling potential for multiple seasons.
A Mystery Writer Trapped in His Own Nightmare
Ern Cunningham isn't just any character—he's a professional mystery writer who becomes the central detective when his family reunion turns deadly. According to reporting, the character uses his expertise to hunt for clues as the snowstorm traps everyone inside a Vermont home and murders begin. The darkly comedic premise flips the typical mystery formula: instead of a detective solving random crimes, a writer must solve murders within his own family.
From HBO to Amazon: A Second Chance for the Project
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone previously had limited-series development at HBO in 2022, with Made Up Stories and Fifth Season already attached as producers. The project stalled there but found new life at Amazon MGM Studios, which greenlit it for Prime Video. The shift to Amazon suggests the streaming giant saw stronger potential in the property than HBO did, or had different development priorities at the time.
Badgley's Return After You Ends
Penn Badgley spent over a decade playing the obsessive stalker Joe Goldberg in You, which concluded in 2023. This new role as Ern Cunningham is a dramatic tonal shift—from psychological thriller to darkly comedic mystery. The project marks his biggest starring vehicle since You wrapped, putting him back in the center of a major streaming series as Prime Video ramps up its genre content.
A Book Series With Legs for Multiple Seasons
Benjamin Stevenson's Ernest Cunningham mystery series currently includes four published novels, with the author actively writing a fifth. This strong source material gives the TV adaptation room to expand beyond a single season. If Amazon greenlights additional installments, the show could adapt new books as they release, similar to how mystery franchises like Agatha Christie's Marple sustained multiple cycles.
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