Far back in the mists of 2009, Fox bought the rights to Patricia Cornwell's Kay Scarpetta novels, with an eye on a movie franchise. Angelina Jolie was attached to star, and Kerry Williamson was writing the screenplay. Since then, we've heard nothing, and Williamson defected to James Patterson and adapted Alex Cross instead. But as Cornwell's readers will know, Scarpetta keeps fighting.
Liz Friedman has just been pegged to write a new Scarpetta screenplay, making the jump to films after regular writing and producing gigs on the small-screen likes of Elementary, Orange Is The New Black and House MD. She's currently working on Netflix/ Marvel's Jessica Jones as an executive producer, and her Jessica Jones colleague, showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, will also join the Scarpetta crew as a producer, along with Mark Gordon (Rampart, Arms And The Dudes) and Geyer Kosinski (the current TV Fargo).
Intriguingly, when he's not wearing his producing hat, Kosinski is also Angelina Jolie's manager. So while that's hardly confirmation of the same casting six years on, it perhaps indicates that she might still be in the frame.
Cornwell's Scarpetta series revolves around medical examiner Kay Scarpetta, who solves crimes based on trace evidence on the bodies and lots of her own investigation - police procedure be damned. To date there are 22 novels in the series, but the understanding previously was that the film would take elements from the franchise as a whole, rather than adapting one book in particular.
With the script just underway, there's no start date yet. Marvel's Jessica Jones is expected on Netflix later this year.