Netflix is feeling remarkably bright on its future with filmmaking creature Olivia Newman.
The streaming giant is reteaming with the writer-director of its weepie hit , coming on top of a bidding war to land the rights to prize-winning novel The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje.
Newman will write and direct the feature, which will reteam her with Bright Creatures producers Bryan Unkeless and Peter Craig, who will be working through their Night Owl Stories banner.
A finalist for the National Book Award and placed on the International Booker Prize longlist, Soldier is a Dutch historical novel set in the aftermath of the First World War.
The story follows a shell-shocked veteran suffering from amnesia with no memory of who he was before the war, and Julienne Coppens, a woman who arrives claiming him as her husband, a photographer named Amand, lost to her for years.
The tension in the novel is driven by the question of whether or not the woman is telling the truth, even as the two are drawn into a life he cannot remember. Themes of identity, memory, and the fragility of self are woven into a love story built on longing and the aching human need to be known.
The novel, published last year by New Vessel Press, became a literary darling, being named as one of New York Times’ 100 Notable Books of 2025, Wall Street Journal’s 10 Best Books of 2025, one of Publishers Weekly 2025 Best Books of the Year, among other accolades. It was also awarded the 2026 Republic of Consciousness Prize.
Gregory Cohen of Night Owl Stories will executive produce.
The project is the latest to showcase the literary bonafides of Newman, who is quietly establishing herself as a go-to for dramatic book adaptations. Newman earned praise for previously directing Sony’s 2022 drama Where the Crawdads Sing.
Now with Bright Creatures, she is making Sally Field into a streaming star. The movie, which adapts the best-selling weepie by Shelby Van Pelt, was released Friday and, with only three days under its belt, leapt into the top 10. On Mother’s Day, it was the number one movie on Netflix. The movie is also inspiring viral TikTok videos of viewers crying while watching the movie.
Soldier will mark her fourth book adaptation as a director and second as a writer. It will be her third outing with Unkeless, who produced her feature debut, the wrestling drama First Match.
Newman is repped by WME, Untitled Entertainment, and Jackoway Austen. Daanje’s deal was done by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates on behalf of Uitgeverij Passage and New Vessel.
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