Penn Badgley Is Returning to TV With a Murder Mystery Perfect for You Fans
Penn Badgley is heading back into the world of murder, but this time he will be on the other side of the crime.
The You star has been cast as the lead in Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, a new darkly comedic murder mystery series ordered by Amazon MGM Studios for Prime Video. The series is based on Benjamin Stevenson’s bestselling novel of the same name and will be developed by David Hemingson, the Oscar-nominated writer behind The Holdovers.
For viewers who spent five seasons watching Badgley play the dangerously obsessive Joe Goldberg, the new role should feel familiar in one important respect: murder is once again at the center of the story. The major difference is that Badgley’s new character, Ern Cunningham, is a mystery writer who finds himself trying to uncover the truth behind a killing rather than secretly committing one.
Penn Badgley takes on a very different kind of killer
Set in the mountains of Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone follows Ern Cunningham as he reluctantly attends a family reunion to welcome his brother Michael home from prison.
There’s an uncomfortable history between the brothers. Ern was the person who helped convict Michael in the first place.
Things become considerably worse when a frozen body is discovered and a snowstorm traps the entire family together. As more deaths follow, Ern has to work out who is responsible.
The biggest problem is contained right there in the title. Everyone in Ern’s family has killed someone, whether accidentally or otherwise. That includes Ern himself, making the central mystery considerably more complicated than a straightforward search for an unknown murderer.
That setup gives the series a different spin on the traditional whodunit. The person investigating the murder isn’t surrounded by innocent relatives. He is trying to find a murderer among people who already have their own histories with killing.
The series comes from a bestselling book
Stevenson’s novel was originally published in 2022 and became the first entry in the Ernest Cunningham mystery series. The book has since been followed by Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect, Everyone This Christmas Has a Secret and Everyone in This Bank Is a Thief. Stevenson is currently writing a fifth installment.
That gives the Prime Video adaptation plenty of source material beyond the first story. Whether the television series eventually moves beyond this initial mystery remains to be seen, but the underlying book series already offers several more Ernest Cunningham stories.
Stevenson has also made it clear that he is enthusiastic about Badgley taking on the character.
“I am blown away by the vision and enthusiasm everyone has for bringing this book, and Ernest Cunningham, to the screen,” Stevenson said. He praised Badgley’s ability to capture Ern’s cleverness and described Hemingson’s script as bringing wit and heart to the adaptation.
David Hemingson is leading the adaptation
Hemingson will serve as showrunner and executive producer, bringing his experience from The Holdovers to a very different kind of story.
The project is being produced by Fifth Season and Made Up Stories. Badgley and Stevenson will also executive produce, alongside Bruna Papandrea, Steve Hutensky, Jeanne Snow and Molly Allen.
Hemingson is equally enthusiastic about having Badgley in the central role. He said the actor was particularly well suited to portraying Ern’s intensity, intelligence and dry sense of humor.
The combination makes sense on paper. Badgley has spent years playing characters caught in increasingly dark situations, while Hemingson’s work on The Holdovers earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.
Why You fans should be paying attention
Badgley’s casting alone gives longtime You viewers an obvious reason to check out the series.
For five seasons, he was closely associated with Joe Goldberg, one of television’s most recognizable fictional killers. You began as an adaptation of Caroline Kepnes’ novel of the same name before expanding beyond the events of the books, and Badgley’s performance remained at the center of the series.
Now, he is returning to a story built around murder, but with a character whose role is fundamentally different.
Ern is trying to solve a killing. Joe was usually the reason there was a killing to solve.
That distinction could make the new series particularly interesting for Badgley fans. The premise also gives him a chance to play another character with a complicated relationship to crime without simply repeating the role that made him famous.
There’s another connection to Badgley’s career, too. His other major television role, Dan Humphrey on Gossip Girl, also came from a series of novels, this time by Cecily von Ziegesar. With Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone, Badgley once again finds himself leading a television adaptation of a book.
A murder mystery with a built-in complication
The premise is what may ultimately separate the series from more conventional murder mysteries.
The first body is discovered in the snow. A storm leaves the family trapped together. Then the deaths begin to mount.
Yet the mystery isn’t simply about figuring out which family member is capable of murder. The story establishes from the beginning that every member of this family has already killed someone.
That creates an unusual position for Ern. He has to investigate a murder while knowing that his relatives have their own histories involving death. The novel’s setup turns the family reunion into an increasingly dangerous mystery in which practically everyone has something to hide.
The story also carries a darkly comic tone rather than presenting itself as a straightforward thriller. Amazon MGM Studios has described the series as an inventive take on the murder mystery genre, while the source material has been praised for combining crime-fiction conventions with humor.
Badgley is already working with Amazon MGM
This also isn’t Badgley’s first project with Amazon MGM Studios.
He is set to star opposite Meghann Fahy in You Deserve Each Other, an upcoming romantic comedy based on Sarah Hogle’s novel. The film is being produced by Fifth Season, giving Badgley another connection to the companies behind his new murder mystery.
That means Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone continues a recent run of book adaptations for Badgley, while giving him a role that should feel familiar enough to attract You viewers but different enough to offer something new.
When will Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone premiere?
There is currently no announced premiere date for the Prime Video series. The show only received its series order on August 27, 2026, so viewers will have to wait for further details about production and release.
For now, the appeal is easy to understand. Penn Badgley is returning to television with another story built around murder, but this time he’s the mystery writer trying to figure out who is responsible.
And considering the title, the investigation is going to be anything but simple.
All five seasons of You are available to watch on Netflix.