Published July 2, 2024, Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods will be appearing on small screens in television form.
Voted Book of the Year by Book of the Month subscribers and subtly endorsed by Taylor Swift when she listened to the audiobook format in Disney+’s six-part docuseries The End of an Era, the literary fiction novel is a best-seller in more ways than one. First acquired by Sony Pictures Television, Netflix boarded the project in December 2025.
For everything we know about the Netflix and Sony TV adaptation of Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, read on:
When will The God of the Woods TV show come out?
No release date has yet been specified, but the show is gearing up for production and building its cast.
What is The God of the Woods about?
The multi-generational drama series, based on Liz Moore’s book of the same name, is set in the Adirondacks. Centering the Van Laar family, whose dark secrets threaten to come to light, the disappearance of Barbara Van Laar is at the heart of the story. Class tensions are also explored along with the mysteries of Barbara going missing. An earlier family tragedy may be connected to Barbara’s disappearance, with the collision of past and present threatening to unravel the Van Laar family’s wealth and influence as consequences to privilege and abuse of power emerge.
Who will be in Netflix’s The God of the Woods adaptation?
First cast in the drama series was Maya Hawke (Stranger Things), which we first told you. She will star in the series regular role of Judy Luptack, a smart and quietly determined investigator — the first woman one in the male-dominated Bureau of Criminal Investigation, who gets assigned to the case of a young girl’s disappearance.
The next casting we first reported was that of BAFTA-winner and Academy Award nominee Kerry Condon (Train Dreams, F1) in the role of Alice Van Laar, mother of the missing 13-year-old Judy Luptack will search for. Alice has her own past family tragedy and grief, and her marriage is contemptuous.
Ella Rubin next joined as Louise Donnadieu, a working-class counselor at Camp Emerson, whose young camper, Barbara, goes missing.
RELATED: Damon Gupton, Susannah Perkins, Benjamin Walker, Nell Fisher & Autumn Molina Join Netflix’s ‘The God Of The Woods’
Nell Fisher, who recently starred as Nancy and Mike Wheeler’s younger sister Holly in Season 5 of Stranger Things, will portray Barbara, the missing teenager in question. Barbara is artistic and headstrong with a punk sensibility, and she seeks refuge from her fraught family unit at Camp Emerson. She also is noticeably mature for her age.
Four more castings were revealed alongside Fishers’s.
Nell Fisher as Holly Wheeler in ‘Stranger Things’ Season 5
Netflix
Damon Gupton (The Big Door Prize), will play Denny Hayes, the well-intentioned captain in the Bureau of Criminal Investigations who struggles to balance his well-protected peace with his new colleague, Judy.
Susannah Perkins (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel), will portray TJ Hewitt, director of Camp Emerson Benjamin Walker (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power), will play Peter Van Laar, wealthy heir to the Van Laar estate whose behavior heavily affects his wife, Alice and his daughter, Barbara. Autumn Molina (A Really Haunted Loud House) joined in the role of Tracey Jewell, who determinedly wants to help search for her missing bunkmate.
Who is behind the adaptation of Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods?
Author Liz Moore will co-showrun with Liz Hannah (The Girl from Plainville). Rubin previously recurred on The Girl from Plainville, and she has also appeared in several Netflix projects like Fear Street: Prom Queen and The Chair. She will next star in Prime Video’s Sterling Point from Megan Park (My Old Ass).
Other exec producers on The God of the Woods include Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty for Original Film. Sony Pictures Television is the studio.
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