In 1995, a 10-year-old Scarlett Johansson starred alongside Sean Connery and Kate Capshaw in one of her earliest onscreen parts: Katie, the pair’s angelic daughter in Arne Glimcher’s Just Cause, a hardboiled crime thriller based on John Katzenbach’s 1992 novel of the same name, in which the grizzled Scottish actor plays a man seeking to overturn a conviction against a death row inmate (Blair Underwood) who insists he was wrongfully accused of a murder actually committed by a prolific serial killer (Ed Harris).
Now, the 38-year-old, twice-Oscar-nominated industry stalwart is coming full circle: On November 28, Deadline broke the news that she would be both starring in and executive producing a new limited series adaptation of the same book for Amazon Prime. The crucial difference? This time, she’ll be center stage, with the story’s male lead, the jaded Miami-based reporter Matt Cowart, being rewritten as Madison “Madi” Cowart.
Set to be the actor’s first major foray into TV (she previously played Ivanka Trump on Saturday Night Live and made a cameo as herself in Entourage), the project will be penned by Christy Hall, the co-creator of the Sophia Lillis-fronted coming-of-age comedy I Am Not Okay With This. It’s not yet known how far the plot will stray from the original source material, beyond the gender swap, and supporting roles have still to be cast, though Johansson’s involvement is sure to attract more A-listers.
It’s welcome news for fans who’ve missed her presence on big and small screens this year—she was last seen in 2021’s Black Widow, after which she filed a lawsuit against Disney claiming that the blockbuster’s simultaneous release on Disney+ breached a clause in her contract that demanded it receive an exclusive theatrical release, which would have granted her additional box office profits. Both parties reached an undisclosed settlement that fall.
Thankfully, she’ll be back in a big way in 2023: She’s poised to appear in Wes Anderson’s ’50s-set Asteroid City opposite the likes of Margot Robbie, Tilda Swinton, and Tom Hanks; play a Royal Navy captain and sister to Sienna Miller and Emily Beecham in Kristin Scott Thomas’s directorial debut, My Mother’s Wedding; and join Channing Tatum in Greg Berlanti’s space race drama Project Artemis. After that, if all goes to plan, expect to see her on an awards podium near you.