Daisy Ridley and Kristin Scott Thomas will co-star in an upcoming film adaptation of Jessica Shattuck’s 2017 historical novel, The Women in the Castle, according to Deadline.
The film will be written and directed by Jane Anderson, who most recently penned the screenplay for the 2017 movie version of Meg Wolitzer’s novel The Wife, starring Glenn Close. Homeland’s Nina Hoss will also co-star, and it’s scheduled to begin filming early next year.
Shattuck’s novel is about three women, all widows, in Germany as World War II ends in 1945. One of the women owns the titular castle; her husband was executed for his involvement in the attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler the previous year. She invites two other women connected to that group to stay with her: Benita Fledermann, who survived the Soviet occupation of Berlin, and Ania Grabarek, who escaped Poland with her two children. Kirkus called the novel a “primer about how evil invades then corrupts normal existence.”
Ridley is best known for playing Rey in three Star Wars films since 2015, but she’s also appeared in occasional book adaptations over the course of her career, including last year’s film of Lisa Klein’s Shakespearean YA novel, Ophelia, and the upcoming film Chaos Walking, based on Patrick Ness’ SF YA book, The Knife of Never Letting Go, currently slated for a January release.
Scott Thomas was nominated for an Oscar for her role in the 1996 film of Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient, and she’ll appear as Mrs. Danvers in the upcoming Netflix film of Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca, set to premiere on Oct. 21.
David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.
