Caroline Kepnes to write and direct Cape Cod thriller The Attentionist for YouTube
Caroline Kepnes, the novelist behind Netflix’s You, will write and direct a new Cape Cod thriller starring Dean Norris, Jordan Ladd, Katherine Mallen Kupferer and Audrey Grace Marshall, Variety reported on 12 October 2026.
The project is called The Attentionist. It is a digital-first series, meaning it is made to premiere online rather than in cinemas or on traditional television. Its planned home is YouTube.
Kupferer and Marshall will play sisters Maeve and Reg. Norris and Ladd will play their parents. The four form the central family, with the story told largely through the household.
The tone crosses two genres. Kepnes has built it to combine the warmth of a 1990s family dramedy with the unease of a psychological thriller. That structure allows everyday domestic life to sit beside a darker, more suspicious edge.
The setting is a 1990s neighbourhood on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. It is a place where the coastal elite, the wealthy year-round residents, live alongside seasonal summer visitors who arrive for the holidays. That close proximity drives much of the friction.
Filming will take place on location in Cape Cod. The area is Kepnes’s native ground, which places the production in the landscape that shaped the story. Mark Roberts of Roberts Media and Lorena David are attached as producers, overseeing the physical and financial organisation of the shoot.
For Kepnes, the series is a first behind the camera. The credit marks her series directorial debut, after a career built primarily in writing. She serves here as both writer and director, controlling script and staging.
Kepnes wrote the novel series You, which inspired the Netflix hit of the same name. Kupferer and Marshall arrive with a shared history, having co-starred in Mouse alongside Sophie Okonedo and David Hyde Pierce. That earlier collaboration reunites the two young actors as sisters.
What makes this stand out is the delivery. A YouTube release breaks from the usual cinema opening or streamer launch. For fans, this means access is simple: no ticket and no paywalled service beyond the platform itself.
