Netflix's 'God of the Woods' Casts Maya Hawke & Kerry Condon

Netflix is bringing one of 2024's most talked-about literary thrillers to the screen. According to Netflix Tudum↗, the streaming giant has greenlit a series adaptation of Liz Moore's bestselling novel The God of the Woods, with Maya Hawke and Kerry Condon announced as stars. Deadline confirmed additional casting details as recently as this week, and in a notable creative move, Moore herself will serve as co-showrunner and executive producer alongside screenwriter Liz Hannah — a rare degree of authorial control that has fans of the novel paying close attention.

Published in summer 2024, The God of the Woods became an immediate word-of-mouth phenomenon, landing on bestseller lists and generating the kind of sustained literary buzz that publishers dream about. The novel centers on a decades-old disappearance at a summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains, weaving together multiple timelines and perspectives as secrets buried beneath the wilderness slowly surface. Moore, who is also the author of Long Bright River, has built a reputation for character-driven narratives that wrestle with class, privilege, and the stories families tell themselves — and The God of the Woods may be her most ambitious work to date.

The casting of Maya Hawke and Kerry Condon signals that Netflix is treating this as a prestige production. Hawke, known for Stranger Things and Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, brings a quality of raw emotional authenticity to complex roles, while Condon's Oscar-nominated work in The Banshees of Inisherin demonstrated her unmatched ability to portray quiet devastation. Both feel like ideal choices for a story that lives or dies on its psychological depth.

At LuvemBooks, we rate The God of the Woods 4.2/5 stars. Moore's greatest achievement here is her exceptional character development — every major player feels fully realized, with motivations that are complicated, believable, and never easily reduced to hero or villain. The novel's atmospheric rendering of the Adirondack wilderness is equally striking; Moore makes the landscape feel like a character in its own right, brooding and alive. The book's thoughtful exploration of class dynamics and privilege — particularly how wealth insulates some families from consequences while exposing others — gives the thriller a literary weight that elevates it above genre conventions. Read our full review of The God of the Woods for a detailed breakdown.

That said, the novel is not without its weaknesses, and readers should go in with honest expectations. Pacing issues occasionally stall the momentum, particularly in the middle section where several secondary storylines diverge from the central mystery without always earning their place. Some of the plot's resolution also leans on convenient coincidences that strain credibility in a story otherwise grounded in psychological realism. These are not dealbreakers — and a television format may actually allow the adaptation to smooth out some of these structural rough patches — but they're worth noting for readers who prioritize tight, relentless plotting above all else.

For existing fans of the novel, the involvement of Liz Moore as co-showrunner is the most reassuring piece of news. Too many literary adaptations lose their narrative soul in translation, particularly when thrillers with intricate timelines are handed over entirely to Hollywood machinery. Moore's presence in the writers' room — alongside Liz Hannah, whose credits include The Post and Where'd You Go, Bernadette — suggests the series will fight to preserve what makes the source material distinctive: its moral complexity, its class consciousness, and its commitment to character over cheap plot twists.

For readers who haven't yet picked up the book, this adaptation announcement is the ideal nudge. The God of the Woods is exactly the kind of novel that rewards patient, attentive readers — the sort who appreciate literary fiction that doesn't sacrifice suspense, and who find as much satisfaction in understanding why characters make devastating choices as in finding out what actually happened. It sits comfortably alongside other psychologically rich wilderness mysteries and will appeal to fans of Tana French and Celeste Ng. If you enjoy fiction that holds privilege and family mythology under a relentless, unsparing light, this is essential reading.

Want the full verdict? Read our complete review: Is The God of the Woods Worth It? — where we break down exactly who this book is perfect for, who should skip it, and how to get the most value from Liz Moore's most ambitious novel to date.