Steven Rowley’s Take Me With You is headed to the small screen, Variety reports.
Rowley’s novel, published last week by Putnam, follows Jesse del Ruth, a college professor who watches as his husband, Norman, disappears into a beam of light in their backyard. He’s forced to deal with life as a newly single person while also contending with a man who keeps following him and a neighbor obsessed with conspiracy theories. A critic for Kirkus called the book “a sweet and tart story stretched over a quirky frame.”
The novel has been optioned for television by Warner Bros. Television and Bill Lawrence, the producer known for creating or co-creating the series Scrubs, Ted Lasso, and Shrinking. Lawrence and Rowley will be among the series’ executive producers.
As of 2022, Rowley’s bestselling 2021 novel, The Guncle, was being developed as a film with Jason Moore attached to direct. There have been no recent updates on that project.
Rowley shared news of the Take Me With You adaptation on Instagram, writing, “We love TED LASSO. We love SHRINKING. We love SCRUBS. ROOSTER on HBO is a new favorite. And I even love COUGAR TOWN, a go to comfort show. What do all those shows have in common? The perfect balance of humor and heartfelt emotion, and super producer Bill Lawrence. And now TAKE ME WITH YOU is coming to TV with Bill Lawrence, his production company Doozer, and Warner Bros TV. I could not be more excited to see my work join this stellar line-up. LET’S GO!”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
