After a few rounds heated streaming battle, Netflix has officially landed the rights to a series adaptation of They Both Die at The End by Adam Silvera. The series, based on Silvera’s bestselling YA novel, will be produced by Bridgerton creator Chris Van Dusen, along with executive producer Drew Comins and Entertainment One, otherwise known as eOne. The project will also reportedly feature music from hit superstar Bad Bunny.
Published in September 2017, They Both Die at The End centers around the unlikely duo of socially anxious Mateo Torrez and street-smart foster kid Rufus Emeterio after the two boys both receive calls from Death-Cast, a company with the ability to predict people’s deaths. After being told that they only have twenty-four hours left to live, Rufus and Mateo are paired together by Last Friend, an app that pairs together people near death, known as Deckers; together, the boys attempt to live their last day to the fullest by going fake-skydiving, going clubbing for real, and saying goodbye to their loved ones, including Mateo’s comatose father. Kirkus Reviews calls the novel “another standout from Silvera…who here grapples gracefully with heavy questions about death and the meaning of a life well-lived.”
Described as “a breakout hit”, Adam Silvera’s novel was quick to climb a variety of bestseller’s lists, even making history by becoming the first New York Times #1 bestselling YA book to feature queer, Latinx characters, according to Deadline. In the same year as its release, They Both Die at The End was listed among Amazon’s Best YA Books of the Year, Booklist’s Editor’s Choice for Youth Books, Book Riot’s Best Queer Books of the Year, and Buzzfeed’s Best YA Books of the Year. A prequel, The First to Die at The End, was released in October 2022, and consequently sat at the top of the NYT Best-Seller’s list for 13 weeks.
Adam Silvera Novel Being Adapted at Netflix
Winning out against five other streaming platforms, Netflix has won the rights to a TV series adaptation of They Both Die at The End, which will involve Emmy and PGA-nominated creator Chris Van Dusen, who’s best-known for creating Bridgerton but has also worked on Scandal and Grey’s Anatomy. Drew Comins, producer of the hit YA series Yellowjackets, has also signed onto the adaptation as an executive producer, along with Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny.
Bad Bunny is most well-known as Latin-American rapping sensation, but will also appear as Spider-Man villain El Muerto in Sony’s upcoming spinoff film of the same name. He has also appeared alongside Daniel Radcliffe in Bullet Train, along with American Sole and Narcos: Mexico.
Together with Comins, eOne first acquired the domestic rights to Adam Silvera’s novel in Spring 2021, according to Deadline. A previous adaptation was reportedly in the works at HBO with JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot and Chris Kelly, but given the announcement of this new Netflix adaptation, it’s safe to assume the HBO adaptation never left development.
More information on the development of They Both Die at the End for Netflix, including the series cast, will likely become available as the project fully enters the development phase.