Sadie Sink in Talks to Star in ‘The Guest’, Based on Emma Cline’s Bestseller

A24 and Square Peg are in negotiations to adapt Emma Cline’s bestselling novel The Guest, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Writer-director Lorene Scafaria is talks to direct with Stranger Things star Sadie Sink in talks to star and produce alongside Square Peg.

Cline‘s 2023 novel, published by Penguin Random House, centers on a calculating grifter who navigates the treacherous world of summer in the Hamptons.

The full synopsis reads: “Summer is coming to a close on the East End of Long Island, and Alex is no longer welcome. A misstep at a dinner party, and the older man she’s been staying with dismisses her with a ride to the train station and a ticket back to the city. With few resources and a waterlogged phone, but gifted with an ability to navigate the desires of others, Alex stays on Long Island and drifts like a ghost through the hedged lanes, gated driveways, and sun-blasted dunes of a rarefied world that is, at first, closed to her. Propelled by desperation and a mutable sense of morality, she spends the week leading up to Labor Day moving from one place to the next, a cipher leaving destruction in her wake.“

The Guest was longlisted for the Pen/Faulkner award, as well as named a Belletrist Book Club pick and best book of the year by a myriad of publications including The New Yorker, Time, and NPR.

Cline‘s recent book release Switzy was longlisted for this year‘s Booker Prize. Her 2016 debut novel, The Girls, sold in a three-book deal at the time worth $2 million. The Girls was loosely inspired by the 1969 Manson family murders.

In a 2023 interview with Vanity Fair Cline said of The Guest, “I started it in 2016. I love books like The Talented Mr. Ripley, where there are characters who you follow through the narrative that are operating outside the bounds of our moral code. There’s something fun about following that kind of chaos. The setting came out of, What would be a fun foil for this kind of character, and what kind of world makes sense?“

Sink most recently starred in Spider-Man: Brand New Day in which she made her official MCU debut as Jean Grey. She will reprise the role in the new X-Men film slated for a 2028 release that will also star Kit Connor (Cyclops), Christopher Abbott (Prof. X), Samara Weaving (Emma Frost), Inde Navarrette (Rogue) and Maya Boyd (Storm). Adam Driver was cast as the villain Mr. Sinister.

In addition to directing Hustlers starring Jennifer Lopez, Scafaria‘s other writing and directing credits include Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, The Meddler, and the adapted screenplay for Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist. Her TV credits include New Girl, Succession and HBO‘s I Love LA, which she serves as executive producer and director.

Sink is represented by WME, Peikoff Mahan and imPRint. Scafaria is repped by UTA and Sloane Offer.