EXCLUSIVE : CSI creator Anthony E. Zuiker has been tapped as writer, executive producer and showrunner for The Quiet Tenant, a limited series adaptation of the horror/suspense debut novel by Clémence Michallon. Also boarding the project, which is in development at Blumhouse Television, is the media company launched last December by Oscar winner Charlize Theron, veteran media executive/producer Dawn Olmstead and Theron’s Denver & Delilah partners Beth Kono and AJ Dix, which now has a name, Secret Menu.
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The Quiet Tenant is a psychological thriller about kidnapper and serial killer Aidan Thomas, narrated by those closest to him: his 13-year-old daughter, his girlfriend, and the one victim he has spared. It explores the psychological impact of Aidan’s crimes on the women in his life — and the bonds between those women that give them the strength to fight back.
As Deadline reported exclusively in June 2023, Blumhouse TV acquired the rights to national bestseller The Quiet Tenant shortly after the novel was published by Knopf in the U.S. and Abacus in the UK. The company then set out to find a writer who would adapt it.
“I’ve been a big fan of Anthony’s cinematic style and approach to storytelling on TV since the early days of CSI ,” Blumhouse’s Jason Blum said. “I knew the minute he pitched The Quiet Tenant that he was the right voice to bring Clémence Michallon’s heart-pounding novel to television, and we are thrilled to produce this project alongside the talented team at Secret Menu who has produced some of the best female character-driven film and TV projects to date.”
The list of such projects shepherded by Denver & Delilah and Olmstead over the years include Bombshell, Monster, for which Theron won an Oscar, Atomic Blonde, Angelyne, The Act and Candy .
Zuiker is taking on The Quiet Tenant after spending the past two and a half decades with the 900-episode CSI franchise, whose most recent offshoot, CSI: Vegas , ended its three-season run on CBS in May. This marks his first collaboration with Blumhouse TV.
“When I read Clémence Michallon’s The Quiet Tenant , I could not put it down,” Zuiker said. “The descriptive nature of the story and its thrilling sensibilities in the narrative spoke to me for the small screen. This is a story about a woman taking her power back against the most pulse hammering of circumstances.”
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This marks a reunion for Secret Menu CEO Olmstead and Blum who did several series together under Blumhouse’s longterm deal with NBCUniversal while Olmstead was President of NBCU’s UCP, including The Purge for USA and docuseries A Wilderness of Error for FX.
“When Jason sent us this intense, taut thriller that took such an original approach to an abduction story, we immediately said yes because it is exactly what Secret Menu was built for,” Olmstead said. “We are so lucky to be working with Blumhouse again and to have scored Anthony Zuiker to adapt.”
Executive producing The Quiet Tenant alongside Zuiker and Michallon are Blumhouse Television’s Blum and Chris Dickie as well as Secret Menu’s Theron, Olmstead, Kono and Dix.
Secret Menu is building upon the existing Denver & Delilah slate, which has folded into the new company. Its current projects include the recently announced thriller Apex, starring Theron and written by Jeremy Robbins with Baltasar Kormákur directing; Jane , a psychological thriller feature about the prolific science-fiction writer Philip K. Dick from Alfonso Cuaron; as well as heist movie Two for the Money directed by Justin Lin, written by Dan Mazeau, and starring Theron and Daniel Craig. Secret Menu is represented by Steve Warren of Hansen Jacobson Teller and CAA.
Zuiker is in development on multiple other scripted and unscripted TV projects in addition to his original content deal with Sinclair. He also serves as executive producer of The Hippest Trip, the musical based on the iconic Soul Train TV series and is an investor in Alicia Keys’ Tony Award-winning musical, Hell’s Kitchen. Zuiker is repped by Literate, CAA, and Yorn Levine Barnes.
Michallon is repped by Anonymous Content and InkWell Management.
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