‘The Perfect Couple’ Showrunner Eyes More Elin Hilderbrand Adaptations Following Outsized Success Of Netflix Limited Series
More adaptations of Elin Hildebrand’s addictive beach reads are seemingly on their way, which spells good news for fans of the delectable six-episode Netflix adaptation of her murder mystery The Perfect Couple.
Since landing on Netflix on September 5, The Perfect Couple has exceeded expectations, not only racking up sizable viewership on the streamer but also going viral on social media for its wacky, tonally different opening credit dance sequence.
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The series tallied 10.4M views in its second full week on the streamer from September 16 to 22, coming in second place among TV, bested only by Ryan Murphy’s true crime drama Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story, which launched last Wednesday. It even beat Season 4B of Emily in Paris, which had its first full week of availability. That’s after it easily stole the top spot on the last two lists, accumulating more than 20M views in its debut weekend.
In less than three weeks, The Perfect Couple has managed around 52.6M views, which is a strong showing for a series with such a short runtime. Those mega viewership numbers were likely fueled by audiences binging their way through the series and, though there’s been a decline in viewership, this week’s performance indicates that a significant number of people are still finding their way to the series.
It would still have a long way to go before hitting Netflix’s most popular list, though it’s not out of the question. Bridgerton Season 2 currently sits in 10th place with just over 93M views in its 91-day premiere window. It’s only been 19 days since The Perfect Couple made its debut, giving it plenty of time to reach that milestone if it can sustain a few more weeks of solid, steady viewership.
The Perfect Couple follows Amelia Sacks (Eve Hewson) and Benji Winbury (Billy Howle), whose idyllic Nantucket wedding is disrupted when the dead body of Amelia’s best friend and maid of honor Merritt Monaco ends up in the harbor the morning of the big day.
Lamia said others have called the series “a beach read in in television form,” which she thinks is “high praise, and that is what we were going for, because I think a beach read is a wonderful thing.”
Hilderbrand and showrunner Jenna Lamia confirmed to Deadline that they are already working together to adapt another of her novels, though they remained tight-lipped on the details. Lamia also teased that another project with The Perfect Couple star Nicole Kidman is in the works as well, though she says they are separate from one another.
“We didn’t need the success of the show to want to work together again,” Lamia said, joking about establishing an “Elin Hilderbrand Cinematic Universe.” But, audiences shouldn’t get their hopes up for more from this world, as she added that “it was always meant to be a limited series.”
When asked about a Season 2 of The Perfect Couple, Hilderbrand admitted that she didn’t get enough of the characters in the six episodes, and Lamia also said she felt for those who binged the “gourmet cheeseburger” Netflix asked for in one sitting.
The show’s performance might not have been a prerequisite for more, but it certainly helps — and it didn’t happen in a vacuum.
In fact, Hilderbrand points to the success of other women’s fiction adaptations, like Liane Moriarty’s Big Little Lies, as a sign of audience’s hunger for more. Since David E. Kelley adapted Big Little Lies for the small screen in 2017, HBO has continued to lean into this genre with shows like The White Lotus, which has drawn comparisons to The Perfect Couple.
“I think Hollywood realized there is an audience for this. There are not just women, but a lot of people who are interested in these novels brought to life,” Hilderbrand said, adding that she can only hope her adaptation will help bring more to life.
The Perfect Couple came with a bit of a built in audience, much like Big Little Lies, as the book had already spent time on the New York Times bestseller list and was hailed a “quintessential” summer read when it was released in 2018. But, as with any adaptation, the creators hoped to attract a new subset of viewers while also convincing fans of the novel to stick around despite some changes.
Lamia pointed out that Eve Hewson’s bride Amelia, named Celeste in the book, got a new name specifically because Kidman was attached to the project. The actress had already played a Celeste in Big Little Lies, so the change was made to avoid any confusion. Lamia also said that “we couldn’t use some of the characters, because they appear in other books of [Hilderbrand’s], and we don’t have the rights to those other books.”
Still, it seems both endeavors were successful, as fans of the book have taken quite a liking to the series, which has introduced the original story to a whole new audience as well. Publisher Little Brown has also been riding the high after seeing an increase in book sales of more than 400% timed to the debut of The Perfect Couple’s teaser trailer, which was released in July.
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After the limited series arrived on Netflix, audiobook sales rose to the number one position in the suspense genre and to the fifth position overall on Amazon’s bestseller list. Print sales alone have been up 250%, putting The Perfect Couple back onto the New York Times best-seller list six years after its initial publication.
“We’ve been thrilled by the excitement around the series and our collaboration with Netflix to bring Elin’s book to an even wider audience of readers. Throughout the various stages of the show’s promotional campaign, we’ve seen a direct impact on sales…with peaks coinciding with the release of official trailers, new media moments with the cast, and ultimately the premiere of the series,” Little, Brown and Company VP, Associate Publisher Michael Barrs said in a statement to Deadline. “Our media tie-in edition utilizing key art from the series, our “Netflix Series” burst on regular editions, and of course Elin’s direct involvement in promotion have closely tied the source material to the show and our sales have greatly benefitted.”
Then, of course, there’s that viral opening dance number, which certainly piqued audience interest. Lamia reveals it was not planned from the outset — and no one in the cast was particularly thrilled about — though now they’re all surely glad it was included.
Each episode of the limited series opens with cast (yes, even Liev Schreiber, who was the one supporter of the routine) participating in a both serious and frivolous dance sequence set to Megan Trainor’s song “Criminals.”
Over the past 28 days, the song reached a 1770% streaming increase on Spotify, and that period of measurement begins before the show’s release date on September 5. “Criminals” has reached 2.6M streams worldwide in its most recent week on iTunes, and Trainer participated in the viral TikTok trend of dancing to the song while also adding it to her tour setlist.
As mentioned, the dance sequence was not originally planned for the opening credits. Instead, it was intended to be a sequence in a later episode, but producer Gail Berman — who also produced Wednesday and Jenna Ortega’s viral “Goo Goo Muck” dance — had a better idea.
“The scene within the show was a coordinated dance, as one does at weddings, and it was going to be part of a dream sequence in the opening of Episode 5,” Lamia said. Then, Berman and director and executive producer Susanne Bier thought it would be better to “put it at the top of every single one to signal the audience, ‘This might not be the tone that you’re expecting.’”
Bier previously told Deadline that she had to get in the choreography sessions and demonstrate the dance, because many in the main cast were reluctant to participate.
Rightfully so, Bier thought, as “it’s not very explainable.”
“But sometimes it’s not about that, sometimes it’s about something else. I think what this does is that it, first of all, clearly signals to the audience, ‘You are allowed to have fun. This is not going to be a show that takes itself too serious.’ And it also signals, ‘Hey, all these amazing, big stars, are having a lot of fun,’” the director said.
It all seems a bit serendipitous to Hilderbrand, who has an interesting connection to the pop singer.
“Megan Trainor grew up on Nantucket. Her mom and I sat on the board of the Nantucket Boys and Girls Club, and we had a benefit, which was a clam bake, every year,” Hilderbrand told Deadline. “So, the fact that her song was picked for my show is such synergy and so organically, fantastic.”
Audiences who ate up The Perfect Couple will likely have to wait a while for whatever Lamia and Hilderband are cooking up next. In the meantime, the author has 26 other novels set on Nantucket to hold them over, and there’s even more literary material on its way.
She released her final book set on the island, “Swan Song,” in June and has now turned her attention to a pair of novels she is cowriting with her daughter, the first of which has already been submitted for a draft as they begin work on the second, which is set at a New England boarding school. Of her wide range of novels, Hilderbrand had two to recommend to those jonesing for more of the recipe that made The Perfect Couple, which was Hilderbrand’s first murder mystery back when it came out.
“I think they would all be enjoyable to somebody who enjoyed The Perfect Couple. It’s really great for me, because new people will be discovering my books. The Perfect Couple’s number six on the paperback bestseller list next week,” Hilderbrand told Deadline of her books on the heels of the show’s success. “I would recommend The Castaways which also has an unexplained death, and probably my Paradise series which is set in the Virgin Islands, where I go every winter, and is more like a thriller.”
RELATED: ‘The Perfect Couple’ Director And [Spoiler] Talk ‘Outrageous’ Killer, Motive And Show’s Ending
The Perfect Couple was also executive produced by Josh Barry, Shawn Levy for 21 Laps Entertainment, Gail Berman and Hend Baghdady for The Jackal Group, and Nicole Kidman and Per Saari for Blossom Films.
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