Dakota Johnson may already be a part of a world-known family of her own—with Melanie Griffith and Tippi Hedron as her mother and grandmother—but that won’t stop her from telling the story of another famous ‘family’.
According to Deadline, Johnson is set to star alongside Riley Keough in the series, Cult Following. The story follows the life and upbringing of a member from the notorious Children of God cult, which was founded in 1968.
Founded by David Berg, the Children of God—now known as “the Family”—was first started in Huntington Beach, California. With past members like Joaquin Phoenix and Rose McGowan, the religious group soon became notorious for their views on and encouragement of such practices as “flirty fishing” and their authorisation of sexual abuse of minors.
Based on a memoir of the same name from Bexy Cameron, the series is set to follow Cameron as she recounts her upbringing in the cult.
“After emancipating herself at the age of 16 and building a life away from the cult, as an adult Cameron (Johnson) embarks on a road trip with a close friend (Keough) to investigate and document contemporary cults existing in America today. Two young women set out on the ‘adventure’ of a lifetime and Cameron’s emphatic, raw and at times incredibly funny experience on the road runs parallel to her examining and processing the psychology and trauma of her own childhood being raised in a cult.”
Set to be released in July 2021, the memoir looks to cover “Cameron’s confrontation of her parents and ultimately herself.”
The series will also be produced by Johnson’s production company TeaTime Pictures, which she founded in October 2019, alongside producer Ro Donnelly. Keough’s production company, Felix Culpa, will also be taking part in the series.
“It has been a dream of ours since we launched TeaTime to collaborate with Riley and Gina at Felix Culpa. We are beyond thrilled to join forces and friendship to bring Bexy’s remarkable story to the screen. Alongside Platform One, we look forward to adding the final top-notch collaborators to the team,” Johnson and her production partner Ro Donnelly said in a statement.
As the project is still in its very early stages, the specifics about who might direct the series, and of course, where we might see Cult Following land are still unclear.
Either way, the series is sure to be a perfect addition to any streaming service register, so it wouldn’t be surprising if we saw the likes of Netflix, Amazon, or Apple snatch it up.
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