Sophie Thatcher Joins Jennifer Kent’s ‘The Girl Who Was Plugged In’

EXCLUSIVE: Jennifer Kent (The Babadook, The Nightingale) has set sci-fi tale The Girl Who Was Plugged In as her next feature with Sophie Thatcher (Companion, Heretic, Yellowjackets) in dual lead roles.
 
Details have been unveiled on the long-awaited third feature from Kent as Goodfellas gears up to launch international sales at the upcoming Cannes market with CAA Media Finance and Range Select co-repping U.S. rights. 
 
Kent has also written the screenplay which is adapted from a 1973 science fiction novella by American writer James Tiptree, Jr (real name Alice B Sheldon).
 
Winner of the Hugo Award for Best Novella in 1974, the surreal dystopian tale revolves around a woman who loses her soul to technology in an effort to be loved. 
 
Thatcher plays disfigured, suicidal young protagonist P Burke who is hired by a mega tech corporation to virtually operate a beautiful but brainless ‘flesh body’ called Delphi, grown in a lab with the sole purpose of influencing the masses and selling products. 
 
As Delphi’s star rises, P Burke becomes enthralled by her and descends into a tech psychosis with disastrous consequences. 
 
Producers are Kent, Cody Greenwood for Rush Films, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones and Fred Berger for Range Media Partners, Brandon Millan and Sam Wasson for Felix Farmer Productions, and Hualien Media International. Terris Ko is an executive producer alongside Dani Sommerhauser for Range. 
 
“I have never felt a more urgent need to make a film as much as I have with The Girl Who Was Plugged In. Even though the original story was published over 50 years ago, its themes are now landing with a searing relevance, as if it was just written,” said Kent.
 
“I am so excited to be reteaming with Vincent Maraval and Goodfellas, who I worked with on Babadook,” she added, referring to her 2014 breakthrough Adelaide-set psychological horror. “I’m surrounded by a highly gifted team, and we cannot wait to bring this relevant story to audiences.”
 
Range Media Partners’ Co-President of Film & Production, Brian Kavanaugh-Jones, commented: “We believe great films come from the right creative alignment, and this project reflects that. Jennifer is a singular filmmaker, who brings a distinct, cinematic vision that elevates the material, while Goodfellas act as true curators – champions of great art and the artists behind it. We feel lucky to be in business with both.”
 
The rights to the underlying IP behind The Girl Who Was Plugged In were repped by Jon Levin at Sustainable Imagination and Christine Cohen at The Virginia Kidd Literary Agency and were negotiated by Matt Saver.
 
The film is set to shoot in mid-November 2026 in Australia.  Kent is repped by CAA and Exile Entertainment; Thatcher is repped by CAA, Echo Lake Entertainment, imPRint, and Jackoway Austen.