Emma Knight’s ‘The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus’ TV Series in the Works at Amazon’s MGM Television From Producer Escape Artists (EXCLUSIVE)

By Jennifer Maas

February 24, 2025

Emma Knight’s recent coming-of-age bestseller “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus” has been set up as a TV series at Amazon‘s MGM Television.

Based on the book of the same name, the series is described as “a sharp coming-of-age journey set in the glamorous world of high academia, old money and one eccentric upper-class family.”

Per the logline for “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus,” “Arriving at the University of Edinburgh for her first term, Pen knows her divorced parents back in Boston are hiding something from her. She believes she’ll find the answer here in Scotland, where an old friend of her father’s—now a famous writer known as Lord Lennox—lives. When she is invited to spend the weekend at Lord Lennox’s centuries-old estate with his enveloping, fascinating family, Pen begins to unravel her parents’ secret, just as she’s falling in love for the first time.”

The project is produced by Todd Black, Jason Blumenthal, Steve Tisch and Jordan Edelstein through Escape Artists (“DTF St. Louis,” “Servant,” “Dr. Death”) under the production company’s first-look deal with MGM Television. “Sex/Life” and “Unreal” writer Stacy Rukeyser will serve as showrunner and executive producer on the potential series.

Released Jan. 7 from publisher Pamela Dorman Books, Knight’s “The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus” has become a New York Times Bestseller and was selected as a pick for A Read With Jenna Book Club, Barnes & Noble Pick of the Month and Heather’s Pick.

Knight is repped by Laura Cameron and Samantha Haywood at Transatlantic Agency.

Rukeyser is repped by WME and TFC Management.