David M. Benett/Dave Benett/Getty Images(LOS ANGELES) — Normal People breakout star Daisy Edgar-Jones is taking on the role of another beloved book character.

Variety reports that the British actress is set to play the lead in Where the Crawdads Sing, the Reese Witherspoon-produced film adaption of the best-selling novel by Delia Owens.

She’ll star as Kya, a girl abandoned by her family in the marshes of North Carolina who survives on her own using her knowledge of the nature around her. Treated as an outcast by the nearby townspeople, she later becomes a suspect in the murder of the town’s golden boy.

Olivia Newman, who wrote and directed Netflix’s First Match, is on board to direct, with Oscar-nominated Beasts of the Southern Wild writer Lucy Alibar penning the script.

Edgar-Jones previously starred as Marianne in Normal People, Hulu’s limited series adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel.

By Andrea Tuccillo
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