A24 has won a competitive auction for the film rights to Emma Cline's 2023 novel The Guest, with Sadie Sink in talks to star and produce and Lorene Scafaria in talks to write and direct, according to Deadline. The package beat roughly twelve other bidders. The deal between A24 and production company Square Peg has not been officially closed.
Cline's novel follows Alex, a 22-year-old escort from New York City who spends five days drifting through the Hamptons, moving through wealthy enclaves she can never fully access. The book was longlisted for the 2024 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction. Esquire described it as "dreamlike and disaffected."
Sink, 24, is best known for playing Max Mayfield across five seasons of Stranger Things. She recently made her MCU debut as Jean Grey in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, one of 2026's biggest summer releases. Her producing role here marks a step into development alongside her acting work.
Scafaria previously wrote and directed Hustlers (2019) and directed episodes of Succession. She has a sustained record of films centered on women navigating systems designed to exclude them. The Guest lands squarely in that territory.
No production timeline has been announced.
