Kira Guloien, Celeste Oliva, Jesse James Keitel, & more have joined Dove Cameron and Avan Jogia in the James Wan series Obsession
Atomic Monster, the production company headed up by genre regular James Wan, is teaming with Amazon Studios to produce a psychological thriller series based on the best-selling novel 56 Days, by Catherine Ryan Howard (pick up a copy HERE). Titled Obsession, this adaptation of Howard’s work got an official series order at the end of last year, and over the last couple of months, casting announcements have been revealing the names of the actors we’ll be seeing on the show. Dove Cameron of Schmigadoon! and Descendants and Avan Jogia, who dealt with zombies in both Zombieland: Double Tap and Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, have been cast in the lead roles, and now Deadline has revealed that they’ll be sharing the screen with Kira Guloien (The Good Doctor), Celeste Oliva (Julia), Jesse James Keitel (Big Sky), Matt Murray (Snowpiercer), and Patch Darragh (Long Bright River).
Also in the cast are Karla Souza of How to Get Away with Murder, and Dorian Missick of Shirley.
Lisa Zwerling and Karyn Usher, who were behind the Starz drama The Rook, are writing the adaptation and serve as executive producers alongside Sandrine Gros d’Aillon, Wan, and Atomic Monster’s Michael Clear and Rob Hackett. Danielle Bozzone will oversee the series for Atomic Monster. Howard is a co-executive producer. The first two episodes of the adaptation are being directed by Alethea Jones, whose credits include episodes of Evil, Shining Vale, Mrs. Davis, and Grease: Rise of the Pink Ladies.
Written by Howard during the pandemic lockdown in Dublin back in 2020, 56 Days is set during that very same lockdown. It tells the story of an intense, erotic romance that turns deadly. It follows two young professionals, striking out on their own in a new city, who are entangled quickly in a charged relationship that leads to a powerful intimacy that is soon cracked open by their secrets … and to murder. Here’s the book description: No one even knew they were together. Now one of them is dead. 56 DAYS AGO: Ciara and Oliver meet in a supermarket queue in Dublin and start dating the same week COVID-19 reaches Irish shores. 35 DAYS AGO: When lockdown threatens to keep them apart, Oliver suggests they move in together. Ciara sees a unique opportunity for a relationship to flourish without the scrutiny of family and friends. Oliver sees a chance to hide who — and what — he really is. TODAY: Detectives arrive at Oliver’s apartment to discover a decomposing body inside. Can they determine what really happened, or has lockdown created an opportunity for someone to commit the perfect crime?
The Obsession adaptation is not set during the pandemic lockdown, but it will center on Oliver and Ciara, who meet randomly in a supermarket and quickly fall into a relationship. Fifty-six days later, homicide investigators arrive at Oliver’s apartment to find an unidentified body — brutally murdered and intentionally decomposed. Did he kill her? Did she kill him? Intercutting between an intense single day in the present investigation and the twisted trajectory of the young lovers’ affair in the past, the series is both a unique crime story and a riveting, erotic, psychological thriller.
Jogia and Cameron are playing Oliver and Ciara. Souza’s character is Lee Reardon, “a dedicated, experienced Boston homicide detective who, despite many flaws in the system, is a deep believer in justice. But she’s harboring a dark secret that challenges everything she stands for and threatens to destroy the most important relationship in her life.” Missick will be playing Karl. “Disorganized and in the midst of a horny midlife crisis, Karl Connelly’s life appears to be a chaotic mess. But despite his reckless habits and short-fused temper, he is a gifted detective and unflinchingly honest and loyal to the people he cares about.”
Guloien be playing Jane Miller, “an enigmatic woman whose attempts at charm thinly veil an ambitious professional agenda.” Oliva will play Camille (Cami) Russo, “a Detective Sergeant of the Boston Police Department and Lee and Karl’s boss. She’s smart, tough, fair, cares about her cops and is willing to protect them– as long as they remain in loyal service of her department.” Keitel’s character is Alison Meadows, “who is stunning, sophisticated, and underestimated in her ability to see through lies and find ways to expose them.” Murray is Kevin Sullivan, “the property manager of a swanky Boston apartment building. He appears confident and eager to please – a facade he maintains to conceal the fact that he knows more than he is saying. He has an agenda behind a bravado with cracking edges.” And Darragh will play Dan Troxler, “a trustworthy psychotherapist who is closely guarding the secrets of his pet client while attempting to assuage his guilt.”
Are you interested in watching this cast in an erotic psychological thriller series produced by James Wan? Share your thoughts on Obsession by leaving a comment below.