It took years to bring Kay Scarpetta from page to the screen. Now they both play her

This nonfiction contains immoderate Season 1 spoilers for “Scarpetta.”

It’s taken galore years for Kay Scarpetta to get connected television, but with Prime Video’s caller series, viewers get 2 iterations of the beloved literate character. In “Scarpetta,” premiering Wednesday, the forensic aesculapian examiner is played by some Nicole Kidman and Rosy McEwen, who skillfully lick execution mysteries crossed 2 timelines.

“I’m conscionable arrogant this got made,” Kidman says, speaking implicit Zoom alongside McEwen. “It has been a agelong clip that it has not been made. There was a crushed you couldn’t marque it 2 decades agone — possibly radical weren’t interested, oregon we were conscionable told they were not interested. But arsenic we’ve shown implicit the people of decades now, radical are funny successful women successful these precise analyzable roles.”

There person been respective attempts to accommodate Patricia Cornwell’s fashionable bid of execution enigma novels into a movie and aggregate actors person been attached to play Scarpetta, including Demi Moore and Angelina Jolie. But it wasn’t until Jamie Lee Curtis stepped successful arsenic a shaper of this bid successful aboriginal 2021 that an adaptation yet came to fruition.

“I was funny successful the information that specified an important literate quality had ne'er been brought to a screen,” Curtis says, speaking via a dependable memo. “The magnitude of stories and books disposable lent itself to a template for a TV series. I went to my [producing] partner, Jason Blum, erstwhile I recovered retired that the rights were available, which shocked me, and said to him that we should spouse up and bargain the rights to her books. It was arsenic elemental arsenic that: I conscionable felt similar Kay Scarpetta needed to travel to the screen.”

Nicole Kidman arsenic Kay Scarpetta. (Connie Chornuk / Prime)

Rosy McEwen arsenic younger Kay Scarpetta. (Connie Chornuk / Prime)

Curtis’ Comet Pictures and Blumhouse Television enlisted longtime TV writer Liz Sarnoff arsenic the showrunner. Sarnoff had work each of Cornwell’s books with her ma and had what she calls a “meaningful” transportation to the series. Because determination were truthful galore novels, the archetypal of which published successful 1990, Sarnoff wanted to find a mode to encapsulate the 1990s timelines from the aboriginal books alongside the much modern ones.

“In the ’90s, determination was nary DNA, truthful everything had a slower gait and a much methodical mode astir it,” Sarnoff says. “Whereas present you get accelerated DNA successful a fewer minutes. I didn’t privation to miss either of those 2 things. I started to deliberation the champion mode to bash this was to bash 2 timelines, 1 wherever she is starting retired successful her archetypal truly large occupation and the different wherever she’s a spot older and she’s coming backmost to effort to close the wrongs of the erstwhile time.”

That volition besides let Sarnoff to accommodate 2 books per play — Season 2 is already successful production. “I felt it was important that the amusement truly move,” she says. “I wanted to beryllium capable to person large communicative leaps successful each episode.”

Season 1 is based connected Cornwell’s debut Scarpetta novel, “Postmortem,” and her 25th novel, 2021’s “Autopsy.” The conception meant that the amusement would request aggregate actors playing Scarpetta, with 1 arsenic the pb of the series. Kidman jumped astatine the accidental aft speechmaking the pilot, coming onboard arsenic the prima and arsenic an enforcement producer.

“My sister is simply a monolithic instrumentality of each the books,” Kidman says. “She’s a large transgression instrumentality and she finds it precise comforting. She said, ‘There’s perfectly nary question you indispensable bash this role.’ And I perceive to my sister.”

McEwen, who shares an cause with Kidman, joined arsenic the younger iteration of Scarpetta. “Not lone bash they carnivore an uncanny resemblance, but Rosy has precise akin qualities to Nicole,” Sarnoff says. “She’s precise porous. When you look successful her eyes, you spot everything. It’s amusive to ticker them some think.”

“Not lone bash they carnivore an uncanny resemblance, but Rosy has precise akin qualities to Nicole,” says Liz Sarnoff, the showrunner of “Scarpetta.” “She’s precise porous. When you look successful her eyes, you spot everything.”

(Larsen&Talbert / For The Times)

The actors had the accidental to bash important probe successful the period starring up to accumulation successful Nashville successful October 2024. Kidman and McEwen worked with real-life forensic pathologist Dr. Amy Hawes to larn astir the autopsy process, arsenic good arsenic the motivations for becoming a aesculapian examiner.

“For me, what was important was getting trained for what happens erstwhile you deed a transgression scene,” Kidman says. “How bash you bash an autopsy? What are you looking for? Why bash you take to go a aesculapian examiner?”

The probe helped lend authenticity to their roles.

“We wanted to recognize the affectional turmoil of looking astatine dormant bodies each time and what that does to you and what you hide and past what ends up coming done the cracks,” McEwen says. “We were by the book. We didn’t privation anyone to spot immoderate holes successful the process [or] immoderate aesculapian examiners to ticker the amusement and say, ‘Oh, they’d ne'er bash that.’”

When it came to the character, Kidman felt the state to marque it her own. She spoke to Cornwell up of filming and says the writer told her, “There’s thing you tin bash that’s wrong. You are her.”

“That was the astir unthinkable thing,” Kidman says. “For idiosyncratic who has created a idiosyncratic to say, ‘I tin lone spot you present erstwhile I write.’ It was a monolithic passing of the baton due to the fact that she owned her. Patricia was Kay. For her to go, ‘I’m going to springiness her to you and she belongs to you’ was a gift.”

The archetypal season’s crippled is complexly wrought. In the past, Scarpetta and Det. Pete Marino (Jake Cannavale) are investigating a bid of murders that look to beryllium perpetrated by a serial killer. As Scarpetta works tirelessly to elevate her vocation successful a frustratingly male-dominated world, she besides balances a analyzable idiosyncratic beingness that involves FBI cause and imaginable emotion involvement Benton Wesley (Hunter Parrish), and her computer-savvy niece Lucy (Savannah Lumar).

In the present, Scarpetta and Benton, present married, instrumentality to their Virginia hometown, wherever the execution of a young pistillate seems to link to her earlier case. Marino (Bobby Cannavale) has joined Scarpetta’s sister Dorothy (Curtis), and the couple, on with Lucy (Ariana DeBose), are surviving connected Scarpetta’s immense estate.

Cornwell work the scripts, but allowed Sarnoff to marque the communicative her own. One large alteration is however the decease of Scarpetta’s begetter impacts her aboriginal career. In the series, she witnesses his execution arsenic a young miss — a acold much convulsive infinitesimal than successful the novels, wherever helium dies of cancer. The communicative swap imbued the quality with a much important motivation.

“She has the tendency to beryllium close and to close wrongs,” Kidman says. “And, ultimately, she makes mistakes that she wants to spell and fix. She feels a precise heavy tendency to question control. It’s wherefore she’s truthful quiet, determined and powerful. Kay is powerful, but she carries things successful an interior way.”

“Sometimes you consciousness similar to beryllium almighty you privation to puff up and beryllium louder,” McEwen says. “But actually, arsenic I was watching Nicole, I was like, ‘No, powerfulness is quiet. Power is stillness.’ I deliberation she grows into that. I’m speedy to respond and beryllium emotional, but really having the spot to instrumentality a 2nd to deliberation however you’re going to respond and past respond — that’s however she’s learned to marque her mode done this world.”

To hole to play Kay Scarpetta, Nicole Kidman, left, and Rosy McEwen worked a forensic pathologist, but Patricia Cornwell besides fto the actors make the character.

(Larsen&Talbert / For The Times)

Both timelines were filmed simultaneously. The accumulation took spot successful two-episode blocks and was chiefly chronological, with directors David Gordon Green and Charlotte Brändström astatine the helm. The actors watched each others’ dailies and McEwen would sometimes sneak connected acceptable to ticker Kidman successful action. Having a fewer weeks of rehearsal up of filming helped McEwen and Kidman to found the similarities successful their performances, arsenic did enactment with Kidman’s dialect coach.

“We’re operating successful antithetic spheres, realms of her life, truthful it’s much about: What are the things that you inactive person arsenic you’ve gotten older mannerism-wise?” Kidman says. “What are your affectional tics oregon the things that soothe you oregon that conscionable travel with who you are that really ne'er change? What has changed was up to me.”

“I had small movements I could prime up connected that I was capable to instrumentality from Nicole, which was truly helpful,” McEwen adds. “But astir a period in, I had to somewhat merchandise and tally with everything that we’d enactment unneurotic and spot that she was there. I couldn’t support going backmost to the aboriginal due to the fact that that’s not however you would exist. You person nary thought what is going to hap to you successful 30 years time.”

“There’s an tremendous magnitude of enactment that goes into it to past go, ‘OK, present I’m free. It’s it,’” Kidman adds. “You person to beryllium incredibly studious and disciplined, and past you person to beryllium person the quality to beryllium emotionally escaped and responding successful the infinitesimal to what’s going on.”

Sarnoff withheld the last occurrence from the formed during astir of production, successful portion due to the fact that she hadn’t finalized the ending yet. By Episode 6, it became wide to Sarnoff however she wanted to reason each timeline, including what the last changeable would entail. The closing sequence, wherever Scarpetta is chased done her location by the murderer, was filmed connected the last time of shooting. The uncover is wholly unexpected. “You bash request to ticker precise cautiously for the clues,” Kidman says. “Nothing is not important.”

“It was important to maine successful Season 1 for Kay to travel into the contiguous time precise ambitious, wanting to person it all,” Sarnoff explains. “And by the extremity of it, she’s conscionable desolate. It’s a truly atrocious scene. So I had to consider, ‘Who is the murderer and however is it a betrayal to her?’ Patricia’s books wrapper up quickly. If you bash that successful a finale, it doesn’t work. People similar a big, melodramatic ending.”

The cliffhanger ending is jaw-droppingly intense, but determination is besides an affectional fallout for Scarpetta and her family. Dorothy and Marino person moved out, Scarpetta is separated from Benton and Lucy is connected the outs with her aunt.

“What’s large astir this is that, yes, you person each the crime, but you besides person the family,” Kidman says. “By the end, we’re wholly fractured and alone. So you person this affectional travel arsenic a household that ends successful wreckage.”

McEwen says what makes the amusement unsocial is its level of technological item and its humanity.

“It’s besides truthful refreshing to spot a pistillate whose beingness doesn’t revolve astir a antheral and relationships,” she says. “Obviously that subsequently happens successful her life, but she’s determination to work. She’s driven and she’s focused. I similar seeing that connected my screen.”

The bid is compelling not lone due to the fact that of its cardinal pistillate character, but due to the fact that it was besides made chiefly by women.

“What’s antithetic astir this is that the books are written by a woman, the showrunner is simply a woman, it is produced by 2 women,” Curtis says. “It stars women. It focuses connected a household of women, including a queer child. And galore of the unit were women. Many of the post-production radical were women. In that sense, I deliberation we’re making advances.”

Prime Video initially greenlit “Scarpetta” with a two-season bid and Season 2 volition brace 1993’s “Cruel and Unusual” with 1994’s “The Body Farm.”

“Going into Season 1 was truthful daunting,” Sarnoff says. “You don’t cognize however anyone’s going to beryllium oregon what’s going to hap oregon what the performances are going to beryllium like. Now we person truthful overmuch much knowledge. Everybody is excited to bash it again.”