One of the buzziest novels released in 2023 is coming to television. Variety is reporting that the R.F. Kuang novel Yellowface is being adapted into a scripted series by Lionsgate Television. Even better, director Karyn Kusama is attached to direct and executive produce the series. No writer is currently attached to the project, which will likely take several years to hit screens.
Yellowface became a New York Times best-seller following its release, and is a social satire about the modern publishing industry.
The official logline states: “After watching friend and literary rival Athena Liu die in a freak accident, June Hayward steals the only copy of Athena’s just-finished masterpiece, passing off the experimental novel about Chinese laborers during WWI as her own. Newly styled as ‘Juniper Song,’ June rides high until the escalating consequences of her con threaten to crash down around her.”
Kusama is a particularly exciting choice to direct the project, in part because her previous work suggests she is skilled at the tonal balancing that Yellowface will require. She has previously directed movies like Jennifer’s Body, The Invitation, and Destroyer, and she also recently directed an episode of Yellowjackets.
Given the tremendous success and acclaim of the book, it seemed like only a matter of time before it got optioned for either movie or television. Now, fans of the novel will have to wait and see whether the adaptation can live up to the source material it’s based on. Plenty of great books have made for great series, but just as many have landed with a thud because they couldn’t capture what made the novel special.
