Movie rights to Fifty Shades of Grey author’s The Mister goes to Universal

Following the massive success of the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, Universal and author EL James are all set to reunite for the adaptation of the latter’s next novel, as the studio has optioned the rights to The Mister, James’ 2019 best-selling romance.

Rights for the book, which recently hit the market, sparked a heated bidding war. James, who produced every film in the Fifty Shades trilogy, returns to produce this adaptation, which tells the story of a wealthy British aristocrat who falls in love with his Albanian housekeeper, unaware that she is on the run from human traffickers.

The Mister was on the New York Times Best Seller list for nine weeks and has sold in 33 territories/languages internationally. Fifty Shades of Grey stayed on the same list for 133 consecutive weeks. It was also selected as one of the 100 most-loved books, as voted by readers.