Among the most anticipated book to screen adaptations set to arrive on the 2026 movie schedule is Michael Showalter's Verity. Based on Colleen Hoover's mega-popular mystery-thriller novel, Verity stars Anne Hathaway as the mysterious author that Dakota Johnson's character is hired to ghostwrite for. As we see in the trailer, Hathaway is inspiring all of the chills with her vacant stares and sinister glares.
While this isn't the first trailer we've gotten for Verity, it certainly gives us more to chew on. The story centers on Lowen Ashleigh (Dakota Johnson), an aspiring writer who's given the opportunity to ghostwrite the final book in author Verity Crawford's series. While plotting out the book, she comes across what seems to be an autobiographical manuscript written by Verity, which reveals some dark tales about her past.
Josh Hartnett plays the role of Jeremy, Verity's husband, and the person who hires Lowen to take over writing duties. As we see in the trailer, the more time Lowen spends at Verity's home, and reading her manuscript, the more caught up in the mystery she becomes, which leaves her to ask herself, just who is this woman?
Side-note, what was up with the kid putting the butter knife in his mouth?
While I've admitted to having mixed feelings about Hoover's novel, I've also admitted to finding it to be a total page-turner, which is why I'm super excited to see how Showalter tackles the adaptation. Based on everything we've seen, he's going to have us on the edge of our seat right until the very last frame, and I can't wait!
It also looks like we're in for a chilling performance from Anne Hathaway, who's been having quite the year. She knocked her performance in The Odyssey out of the park, and while Verity isn't exactly the same kind of movie as Christopher Nolan's latest blockbuster, I have a feeling we'll be talking about her performance in this one as well when Verity hits theaters.
This isn't the only upcoming adaptation of a buzzy book that Hathaway's involved in. We learned earlier this year that Hathaway is set to star in and produce the adaptation of Caro Claire Burke's new novel Yesteryear. I can't wait for more updates about that one. In the meantime, the Verity movie is just months away.
Given how popular the book is, I won't be surprised if Verity has book lovers, Hathaway fans and fans of mystery thrillers in general flocking to the theater to see how this potentially strange, dark, violent and a little bit sexy tale plays out.
Only darkness ahead! Verity hits theaters October 2.
