STARZ Acquires Rebecca Hall Thriller The Listeners
STARZ has acquired the exclusive U.S. rights to the five-part thriller The Listeners, starring Golden Globe and BAFTA nominee Rebecca Hall (Peter Hujar’s Day, Godzilla v. Kong franchise, Resurrection) and directed by Janicza Bravo (Zola, The Bear) from Fremantle.
Based on the novel by Jordan Tannahill, who also adapted it, the provocative, haunting drama premiered on BBC One in the U.K. to broad critical acclaim and will premiere in the U.S. exclusively on STARZ in 2026.
“‘The Listeners’ pulls viewers in from the start with its unique mystery while provoking questions about how society treats and believes women’s experiences,” said Alison Hoffman, President of STARZ Networks. “We’re proud to bring this critically acclaimed project to the U.S. and expand our suite of premium programming for women with this riveting psychological thriller.”
The Listeners is the latest addition to STARZ’s expanding slate, a blend of self-owned originals (Fightland), prestige acquisitions (Amadeus), and powerhouse franchises (Outlander, Power).
The Listeners is a taut thriller centered on Claire (Hall), a popular English teacher, who begins to hear a low hum that no one else around her can hear. This seemingly innocuous noise gradually upsets the balance of her life, increasing tension between herself and her husband, Paul (Prasanna Puwanarajah), and daughter, Ashley (Mia Tharia).
But despite multiple doctors, no obvious source or medical cause can be found. When she discovers that a student of hers, Kyle (Ollie West), can also hear the sound, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship.
Finding themselves increasingly isolated from their families, friends and colleagues, they fall in with a disparate group of neighbors, led by a charismatic couple, Jo (Gayle Rankin) and Omar (Amr Waked), who also claim they can hear what they call “The Hum” – but rather than track down the source to stop it, believe it is a gift, heard only by a “chosen few.”
Over five episodes, the gripping, thought-provoking series explores the seduction of the wild and unknowable, the human search for the transcendent, the rise of conspiracy culture in the West, and the desire for community and connection in our increasingly polarized times.
The Listeners is an Element Pictures, a Fremantle company, production for the BBC. The series is written by Jordan Tannahill and directed by Janicza Bravo. Both also serve as executive producers, alongside Ed Guiney, Andrew Lowe, Chelsea Morgan Hoffmann, and Rachel Dargavel for Element Pictures, Rebecca Ferguson for the BBC, and Alice Birch.
The series is produced by Ed King (His House, Suspect, Howl). Fremantle is handling global sales. The deal with STARZ was brokered by Fremantle’s EVP of Distribution, North America, Lisa Honig, and Lorenzo De Maio of De Maio Entertainment.
