2022 is shaping up to be an excellent year for Daisy Edgar-Jones. After her impressive performance in the twisted horror Fresh, the Normal People star is currently making headlines with true crime series Under The Banner Of Heaven. 

But Edgar-Jones isn’t slowly down with the hard-hitting roles any time soon, because this summer, she’s diving into the marshlands of North Carolina in the forthcoming adaptation of Where The Crawdads Sing, 

Based off the bestselling 2018 novel of the same name by Delia Owens, the film tells the story of Catherine “Kya” Clarke (Daisy Edgar-Jones), an abandoned girl who raises herself to adulthood in a North Carolina marsh in the 1960s. Isolated from the nearby inhabitants of the local community, Kya grows to be a fiercely independent young woman – but when she is accused of murdering a local man who she was once involved with, she must fight for justice, as well as the right to be herself.

Now, in a thrilling new trailer, we see Edgar-Jones transform into “the Marsh Girl” who finds herself at the centre of a terrible crime. 

“In town, they tell the story of the the Marsh Girl, the one who grew up alone in the wild,” we hear Kya say at the beginning of the trailer.

“But they never really knew me. Like most stories, the facts don’t weigh into it.”

We see young Kya fend for herself in the wilderness, and grow to create a beautiful life in nature. Despite her resilience, however, the outside world remains inaccessible, thanks to the judgement of the local community who treat her as an outcast.

We also see a shocking scene in which Kya is charged with the murder of Chase Andrews (Harris Dickinson) and given the death penalty, although she defiantly declares that she will get out of jail and clear her name “one way or another”.

Last month, the first trailer for Where The Crawdads Sing teased a beautiful new song by Taylor Swift titled Carolina, which has been produced by her longtime collaborator Aaron Dessner.

“Where The Crawdads Sing is a book I got absolutely lost in when I read it years ago. As soon as I heard there was a film in the works starring the incredible @daisyedgarjones and produced by the brilliant @reesewitherspoon, I knew I wanted to be a part of it from the musical side. I wrote the song “Carolina” alone and asked my friend @aarondessner to produce it. I wanted to create something haunting and ethereal to match this mesmerising story.”

Last year, Edgar-Jones confirmed that filming had officially wrapped on Where The Crawdads Sing when she posted a series of images of the cast and crew on location in North Carolina to Instagram, and thanked the team for “working so hard to bring this beautiful story to life”.

“Where the crawdudes be diddle daddling,” she wrote. “What a wonderful few months it has been! I can’t wait for you to see Kya’s marsh in all its glory.” 

The movie adaptation of Owens’ novel, which is being produced by Reese Witherspoon’s production company Hello Sunshine, has been hugely anticipated ever since it was first announced back in 2018.

Here’s everything we know about the exciting adaptation so far.  

Set in mid-20th century North Carolina, Owen’s debut novel follows the story of Kya Clark, a young girl who is left to fend for herself in the marsh when her mother and father abandon her.

Left to her own devices, Kya quickly becomes accustomed to life in the marsh – a fact which makes her mysterious and unnerving to the people of the nearby town, Barkley Cove.

As she grows up and Kya years for a relationship outside the solitary confines of the marsh, Kya finds comfort in two young men from the local village who are intrigued to learn more about her way of life. 

But when one of the boys is found dead many years later, Kya becomes the prime suspect in his murder.

Intrigued? You can heck out the first chapter of Where The Crawdads Sing here.

Reese Witherspoon will be producing the film alongside Hello Sunshine’s Lauren Levy Neudstadter.

The project is also being overseen by Erin Siminoff and Elizabeth Gabler of Sony’s 3000 Pictures, the latter of whom has a number of successful literary adaptations to her name, including The Devil Wears Prada and Hidden Figures.

Oscar-nominated writer Lucy Alibar, who penned the script for Beasts Of The Southern Wild, is writing the screenplay, while Olivia Newman, who wrote and directed the Netflix feature First Match, will direct.

As we’ve already mentioned, Normal People’s Daisy Edgar-Jones will star as the film’s protagonist, Kya Clark.

John Taylor Smith, who is known for his roles in Sharp Objects and Cruel Intentions, will play one of Kya’s love interests, Tate, while Harris Dickinson, who starred opposite Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning in Maleficent: Mistress Of Evil, will play another, called Chase.

Other names joining the cast include Sterling Macer Jr. (NCIS) as Kya’s friend and ally, Jumpin, Ahna O’Reilly (The Morning Show) and Garret Dillahunt (Fear The Walking Dead) as Kya’s parents Ma and Pa and Michael Hyatt (Snowfall) as Mabel, Jumpin’s wife and Kya’s only female role model.

Newcomers Jojo Regina and Luke David Blumm will also play young Kya and Tate, while Eric Ladin will play state prosecutor Eric Chastain.

While there were hopes that Reese Witherspoon might also join the cast as she did for another of her literary adaptations, Little Fires Everywhere, it seems like this isn’t the case with Where The Crawdads Sing.

Ever since filming on Where The Crawdads Sing first kicked off back in April last year, the cast and crew have shared a number of updates from the set.

Alongside her most recent post, Edgar-Jones has shared a number of stories documenting the filming process, including a sneak peek at some of the “character reference materials” she’s using to create the character of Kya.

Last year, Witherspoon also posted a series of photos with the cast and crew on location in North Carolina when she visited the set for the first time.  

“What an incredible day visiting the set of #WhereTheCrawdadsSing,” she wrote. “This story has such a special place in my heart and to see it all come to life is true MOVIE MAGIC!

“Between the stunning location, detailed set design and amazing cast and crew, I think I said ‘WOW’ 579 times. It truly brought tears to my eyes. I can’t wait to share more details of this project with you all – is it June 2022 yet??”

Owens has also been posting regular updates from her time on the set since April, including a shot of her alongside Edgar-Jones and the film’s director Olivia Newman.

She also shared a photo of herself with Jojo Regina (who plays young Kya), thanking the actor for playing the role so brilliantly. 

“I am so thrilled to hang out on the Crawdads movie set with Jojo Regina, who is playing the role of young Kya,” she wrote. “Jojo is perfect for the role; so tough yet tender. Full of laughter then sudden tears. Thank you, Jojo, for making Kya so real.”

In another post to mark the conclusion of filming yesterday (3 July), Newman posted a photo of the entire Crawdads team alongside a caption that thanked the cast and crew for dealing with the myriad of conditions North Carolina has thrown at them during the filming process. 

“Torrential rain, lightning strikes, rising tides, floods, blazing heat, mud for miles, mosquitoes, horse flies, gators, cottonmouths be damned… @crawdadsmovie is in the CAN,” she wrote. “Grateful to the hardest working, passionate and malleable crew a girl could dream of and the most exquisite cast.”

Newman continued: “And always, to @authordeliaowens, for gifting us with her beautiful story. Forever grateful. That’s a wrap, baby!!!”  

Where The Crawdads Sing will hit cinemas on 26 August 2022. That means that we’ve only got a few months to go before we get to see Edgar-Jones and the rest of the film’s stars take to the big screen. Exciting, right? 

Image: Sony Pictures