News surrounding new projects for Netflix has been coming out left and right and today is no different! In some very exciting casting and creative team-based news, Laura Dern and Liam Hemsworth were tapped to star in the streaming service’s upcoming romantic film, Lonely Planet. And, somehow, it gets even better. Academy Award nominee and three-time Emmy nominee, Susannah Grant, has also signed her name on the dotted line to write and direct.
While plot details are being kept under wraps, we do know that the story will take place in Morocco. However, mum’s the word on exactly who Dern and Hemsworth will be portraying and if or how their characters will cross paths. While this isn’t a lot of news to go off of, with Netflix’s track record of bringing its customers some of the best content around, there’s no doubt that Lonely Planet will be the same.
Without a release date anywhere in sight, fans may be jonesing for their next fix of the names so far attached to the production. For Dern, followers will see her very soon taking on the world of dinosaurs once again in Jurassic World Dominion. Tossing the archeology boots of her long-running character, Dr. Ellie Sattler, back on, she’ll join her Jurassic Park co-stars Jeff Goldblum and Sam Neill in her first Jurassic Park franchise film since 2001. The last few years have been kind to the actress as in 2020 she nabbed her first Academy Award for her performance in Marriage Story. Her credit sheet is unfathomable, having appeared in just about every genre over the last 30 odd years. Raking in accolades left and right, Dern has received awards for projects including Big Little Lies, Afterburn, and Enlightened.
An Emmy nominated performer, Hemsworth’s latest film project was the neo-noir thriller, Arkansas. An adaptation of the novel of the same name written by John Brandon, the movie would see Hemsworth starring opposite the likes of Vince Vaughn, Vivica A. Fox, and John Malkovich. Though it’s surely been hard to shake his persona as Gale in The Hunger Games franchise, the actor has held down celebrated roles in a slew of features over the years including The Duel and Independence Day: Resurgence. Outside Lonely Planet, Hemsworth can next be seen in the Russell Crowe directed flick, Poker Face.
As for Grant, who will also join Lonely Planet as a producer, she most recently found massive success in the Netflix series, Unbelievable. Leading a team of actors including Tony Collette, Merritt Wever, and Kaitlyn Dever, Grant took the helm of the true-crime series as its showrunner, writer, director, and executive producer. A woman who truly needs no introduction (but we’ll give it to her anyway), Grant is the mind behind some of the film industry's biggest hits, using her writing skills on productions including Erin Brokovich, The Soloist, and In Her Shoes. Currently, the Catch and Release writer and director is hard at work on executive producing FX’s upcoming series, Fleishman Is in Trouble.
While we could go on and on about the accomplishments and background of the newly announced additions to Netflix’s Lonely Planet, we’ll leave it there. Although no more news is available pertaining to the new series at this time, stay tuned to Collider for updates as they roll in!