Maya Hawke Officially Starring In Netflix's New Series Adaptation Of Bestselling Crime Thriller Novel

Published Mar 19, 2026, 4:29 PM EDT

Jordan is the Senior Editor for Movies & TV News at Screen Rant. She graduated from the University of Oregon with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Media Studies. An editor, writer, and digital media specialist based in New York City, you can also find her bylines on Business Insider.

Jordan originally hails from Washington State, giving her an undying loyalty to any Seattle sports team, though she's also spent time in Virginia, Oregon, and New Orleans. She runs on coffee and classic movies, taking pride in having seen every film on AFI's 100 Greatest Films list and every Best Picture Oscar winner.

 

Published in 2024, The God of the Woods follows multiple timelines in the history of the Van Laar family, as the disappearance of 13-year-old Barbara Van Laar from her family's summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains draws comparisons to the mysterious vanishing of another family member over a decade beforehand. The novel, told across several timelines from various family and non-family members' perspectives, works to piece together the two strange vanishings as Judy Luptack's investigation uncovers long-buried secrets.

Hawke is set to appear in the upcoming Netflix adaptation as a series regular, with a crucial part of her character's story being the fact that Judy is the first female investigator in the Bureau of Criminal Investigation's male-dominated field. While additional casting is still unconfirmed, other characters expected for major roles are young teen Barbara Van Laar, her mother Alice Van Laar, her father Peter Van Laar III, TJ Hewitt, Vic Hewitt, counselor Louise Donnadieu, Tracy Jewell, Peter "Bear" Van Laar IV, and Judy's mentor Denny Hayes.

The novel became a major hit following publication, remaining on The New York Times Bestsellers List for a significant portion of 2024 and 2025. The God of the Woods was also further popularized by readers like Taylor Swift and Barack Obama, the latter of whom listed the story as one of his favorite books of summer 2024.

Netflix's The God of the Woods series comes from co-showrunners and executive producers Liz Moore, the novel's author, and Liz Hannah, who was nominated for a WGA Award for her writing on Netflix's Mindhunter season 2. In addition to The God of the Woods, Moore previously served as a co-creator and executive producer on Peacock's series adaptation of her novel Long Bright River, which debuted in March 2025 and starred Amanda Seyfried.

While there's still no confirmation on when exactly the series will head into production or debut on the streaming service, Netflix has confirmed that The Good of the Woods is "coming soon." The series follows on the heels of Maya Hawke's final bow as Robin Buckley in Stranger Things' series finale in December 2025, a role she debuted in season 3 of Netflix's sci-fi phenomenon. Hawke also recently premiered her sci-fi movie Wishful Thinking, in which she stars opposite Lewis Pullman, at SXSW.

In addition to The God of the Woods, coming up on Maya Hawke's release slate is November 2026's The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, in which she portrays a younger version of the victor Wiress. The actress is also starring in Will Gluck's One Night Only, releasing this summer, and is set to embark on a concert tour for her musical career this spring.