EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures is developing BadAsstronauts, the 2022 novella from top genre author Grady Hendrix, for film, with Todd Garner and Adam Goldworm to produce and Hendrix to exec produce.
The novella is described as a blue-collar space odyssey about a washed-up astrophysicist who decides, against all logic and common sense, to build a homemade rocket and launch it into orbit to rescue his cousin who’s stranded in space. It’s a story of underdogs rediscovering purpose, family, and pride as a wildly ill-advised backyard mission becomes a scrappy movement that eventually captures the imagination of the entire nation.
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Said to be the second-best-selling horror writer in the world, behind Stephen King, Hendrix’s books and short stories have been set up all over town. Earlier this year, he set up horror-thriller short story “The Blanks” at Netflix with 21 Laps and Aperture Entertainment aboard to produce, as we told you first. This marked his second short story deal following “Ankle Snatcher,” which he’s been set to adapt for Sony, with Escape Artists and Aperture producing.
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Hendrix is also the author of New York Times bestsellers including The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires (set up at HBO with Danny McBride), The Final Girl Support Group (previously in development at HBO Max), and How to Sell a Haunted House (set up at at Legendary with James Ashcroft directing). Other works include Horrorstör (under option to New Republic), My Best Friend’s Exorcism (adapted for film by Amazon with Chris Landon producing), and Witchcraft for Wayward Girls. To date, his books have sold more than 2.4 million copies worldwide. Hendrix is represented by Aperture Entertainment, JABberwocky Literary Agency and Gang, Tyre, Ramer.
In addition to several of the aforementioned Hendrix projects, Goldworm is producing a Netflix UK adaptation of the hot 2026 Black List script Alpha written by Halil Ozsan, with Taron Egerton starring.