Some characters are difficult to root for, yet impossible to look away from. They manipulate the people around them, make questionable choices and move through worlds that were never meant to accommodate them. Bringing such a character to the screen calls for a performance that can hold both vulnerability and calculation without making either too obvious.
Sadie Sink, who rose to prominence as Max Mayfield in Netflix’s Stranger Things, has been expanding her screen and stage work beyond the supernatural series. Her recent move into the Marvel Cinematic Universe has put her on the radar of mainstream audiences, but her next reported project could take her into a more unsettling, character-driven story.
Sink is in talks to star in and produce The Guest, a feature adaptation of Emma Cline’s bestselling novel, with A24 and Square Peg Productions negotiating for the rights. Lorene Scafaria, best known for directing Hustlers and episodes of Succession, is also in talks to write and direct the film, according to reports.
Published in 2023, Cline’s novel follows Alex, a young woman who finds herself cut off from her older, wealthy boyfriend during a summer in the Hamptons. Rather than leave the affluent seaside community, she drifts through it, relying on her ability to read people and make herself seem as though she belongs. As the days pass, her attempts to find shelter and maintain her place in this world become increasingly precarious.
Scafaria’s involvement is another point of interest. Her 2019 film Hustlers, led by Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu, explored money, ambition and power through women operating on the fringes of the wealthy world they sought to access. Those themes could make her a fitting choice for Cline’s novel, although the film’s eventual approach to the source material has not been announced.
Sink is also set to reprise her role as Jean Grey in Marvel’s upcoming X-Men film. However, with the The Guest adaptation still in negotiations, there is no confirmed production schedule, additional casting or release date yet.
