Impossible Dream Entertainment and Wall to Wall are developing The Invited, a supernatural mystery thriller built from Wendy Webb’s ghost-story novels. The series will not adapt one Webb book directly; there is no novel called The Invited. Instead, the producers have secured rights across her catalog and will assemble her fictional, haunted lakeside town of Wharton into a single connected world.
Season 1 will draw on The End of Temperance Dare. Helen Black, writer of Life and Death in the Warehouse, is adapting with Jeff Howard, whose credits include The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass and Gerald’s Game.
Why it matters
This is less a book-to-screen deal than a catalog-to-universe play. The producers are not selling one title; they are selling a setting that can generate new seasons and spinoffs. For buyers, that changes the economics: a proven readership transfers across multiple entries, while the haunted-town framework gives marketing a consistent hook.
The package also concentrates genre credibility. Impossible Dream’s credits include Get Out and BlacKkKlansman, while Howard’s work with Mike Flanagan has become shorthand for premium horror series. Wall to Wall, part of Warner Bros. International Television Production, adds UK production infrastructure.
The deal as a template
- Treat an author’s full catalog as the franchise bible, not a single option.
- Map a central setting that can expand season after season before pitching.
- Attach genre specialists with a track record to lower platform risk.
- Watch how the US-UK partnership splits rights and budgets.
Webb’s catalog gives the show a deeper well than a one-book option would. The author called the involvement of Howard and Black “a little surreal,” while producer Yvette Yates Redick said, “The best ghost stories don’t just scare you. They follow you home.” That is the pitch in one line: a world built to return.
What to watch next
No platform or network has been announced yet. The next signal is whether a streamer takes it out as a straight-to-series order or a co-production. For media planners, the title won’t mean much yet; the durable asset is Wharton itself and the names attached to it.
Source: Deadline
