The dark romance novel that had readers across TikTok equally obsessed and nervous is officially moving from phone screens to television screens. Navessa Allen’s 2024 debut novel Lights Out, which became a viral phenomenon on BookTok, is now in development at Netflix with a complete creative team already attached.
Hannah Schneider, known for her work on Why Women Kill and Accused, will serve as showrunner, writer, and executive producer. The project comes from Chernin Entertainment, the production company behind Netflix’s The Madness and Apple TV’s See. Allen herself will executive produce, ensuring the adaptation stays true to the story that turned her into a bestselling author overnight .
This is not just a simple option deal. Netflix is moving forward with a full series adaptation of the book that many publishers originally passed on before it exploded on social media. The streaming platform is treating Lights Out as a priority literary acquisition, placing it alongside other high-profile book adaptations currently in its pipeline .
What Is ‘Lights Out’ Actually About
The novel follows Aly, a trauma nurse working night shifts who carries dark fantasies she never shares with anyone. Her internal world collides with reality when Josh, a masked hacker who operates outside the law as a vigilante, breaks into her house. What starts as a home invasion turns into something far more complicated, with Aly realizing the man in the mask is not there to hurt her but to fulfill every dangerous fantasy she has ever kept hidden .
The story balances intense psychological tension with romance, exploring where obsession ends and genuine connection begins. Unlike traditional romantic suspense novels where the danger comes from a clear villain, Lights Out forces readers to sit with uncomfortable questions. Is Josh a threat or a protector? Is Aly’s attraction to him a fantasy come true or a trauma response? The book never gives easy answers .
Allen has described the novel as examining “the fine line between desire, obsession, and reality,” a theme that resonated strongly with readers who praised the book for treating its heroine’s psychology seriously rather than judging her fantasies .
Why This Book Became a BookTok Phenomenon
Lights Out did not have a major marketing budget. It did not have a celebrity endorsement or a decades-old fanbase. What it had was readers who finished the book and immediately went to TikTok to scream about it.
The novel gained traction in early 2024 when users began posting videos of themselves reading the opening chapters, capturing their visible shock, laughter, and anxiety in real time. The masked vigilante love interest, Josh, became an unexpected archetype that viewers found both terrifying and appealing. Comments sections filled with variations of “Why is this working for me” and “I need to lie down” .
Allen, who lives on the East Coast with her husband and two cats, was not active on TikTok when the book started trending. She learned about the viral moments from friends and readers tagging her. The organic spread of the book through word-of-mouth recommendations pushed it onto bestseller lists months after its initial release .
The Book Is Already Part of a Larger Series
Netflix is not adapting a standalone novel. Allen’s Lights Out is the first book in her Into Darkness series, and the second installment has already outperformed the first.
Caught Up, the sequel, debuted at number one on the New York Times bestseller list in June 2025. That level of commercial performance, arriving more than a year after the first book’s publication, signaled to publishers and studios that this was not a passing trend. Readers were staying invested in these characters and this world .
The third book, Game On, is scheduled for release on March 31. While Netflix has not officially confirmed that it will adapt the entire series, developing the first book with Allen attached as an executive producer strongly suggests the company is thinking beyond a single season. Authors who control their intellectual property rarely sign onto projects where sequels are not part of the conversation .
Who Is Running This Adaptation
Hannah Schneider is not a typical choice for a dark romance series. Her background includes producing network procedurals and dramedies, not erotic thrillers. That is exactly why Netflix hired her.
Schneider’s work on Why Women Kill demonstrated her ability to balance multiple timelines, complex female protagonists, and tonal shifts between comedy and genuine drama. Accused, the Fox crime anthology she also worked on, showed she could handle dark subject matter with restraint. The combination of these skills makes her suited for Lights Out, which requires a showrunner who will not soften the material for mass consumption but also will not turn it into something purely exploitative .
Peter Chernin and Tracey Cook executive produce through Chernin Entertainment. The company has experience shepherding literary adaptations through Netflix’s development system, having previously produced The Madness for the platform. Their involvement signals that Netflix sees this as a long-term project rather than a test run .
Netflix’s 2026 Literary Adaptation Slate Is Crowded
Lights Out is arriving at a moment when Netflix is aggressively acquiring book rights and rushing them into production.
The company currently has **Emily Henry’s *People We Meet on Vacation, **Alice Feeney’s *His & Hers, and an Agatha Christie adaptation (The Seven Dials Mystery) all in various stages of production. **Greta Gerwig is developing *Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. **Stephenie Meyer’s *Midnight Sun is being adapted as an animated series. Bridgerton will return for its fourth season later this year .
What separates Lights Out from these other projects is its genre positioning. While Netflix has produced romantic content and thriller content, it has not yet fully committed to dark romance, a subgenre that sits uncomfortably between categories. Traditional romantic dramas do not feature masked home invaders. Traditional thrillers do not spend extensive page time on a woman’s sexual fantasies. Lights Out forces a category reassessment, and Netflix is betting that audiences are ready for that blurring .
Important Note: There Are Multiple Books Called ‘Lights Out’
Online searches for the Lights Out adaptation have caused confusion because multiple books share the same title.
The Navessa Allen novel is a dark romance for adult readers about a trauma nurse and a masked vigilante. It was published in 2024 and became a BookTok sensation. This is the book Netflix is adapting.
An unrelated novel also called Lights Out is a young adult Outer Banks tie-in written by Alyssa Sheinmel, featuring characters from the Netflix series. That book was published in 2022 and has no connection to Allen’s work or this new adaptation .
R.L. Stine’s Lights Out is a 1991 Fear Street novel about summer camp murders. It is also unrelated to the current Netflix project .
Elise Hart Kipness’s Lights Out is a sports thriller that was optioned by Universal Television and Mary J. Blige’s Blue Butterfly. That project remains in development separately and is not connected to Netflix .
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What Comes Next for the Series
The adaptation is in early development. No writers room has been announced. No casting has begun. Schneider is currently working on the adaptation script, and the project will move forward once Netflix executives approve her direction.
Allen remains actively involved as an executive producer. For authors who have watched their work get adapted without meaningful consultation, this level of creative control is significant. Allen will have input on scripts, casting, and overall creative direction .
There is currently no release window, no episode count, and no production schedule. Development timelines for Netflix literary adaptations vary widely depending on showrunner availability, production logistics, and the company’s shifting content priorities. Some projects move from announcement to production in six months. Others spend years in development before any cameras roll.
The third book in the Into Darkness series, Game On, will be published on March 31. If that book performs similarly to Caught Up, it will reinforce Netflix’s decision to invest in this franchise. Publishers and streaming platforms now watch each other’s sales figures closely. A third consecutive bestseller makes it very difficult for any studio to abandon a project .
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