News The Girl Who Was Plugged In Babadook Director Jennifer Kent’s Next Film is a James Tiptree Jr. Adaptation What if influencers, but terrifying By Molly Templeton | Published on May 7, 2026 Comment 0 Share New Share Jennifer Kent has found her next story with which to super freak you out. The writer-director of The Babadook and The Nightingale will return to the big screen with an adaptation of James Tiptree Jr.’s Hugo Award-winning novella The Girl Who Was Plugged In. Sophie Thatcher (Companion, pictured above) is already set to star. Kent has already written the screenplay, according to Deadline, which summarized the story thusly: “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.” Well, that doesn’t sound timely at all. In a statement, Kent said, “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.” James Tiptree Jr. was the pen name of Alice B. Sheldon, who won three Nebula Awards and two Hugo Awards under her pseudonym. Tiptree is the subject of a biography, James Tiptree, Jr.: The Double Life of Alice B. Sheldon by Julie Phillips, and of an upcoming film, Tip/Alli, by director Jed Samer. The Girl Who Was Plugged In has previously been adapted as part of a Sci-Fi channel series called Welcome to Paradox, and as the first act of a stage musical with music by Alan Menken (yes, the hero of Disney soundtracks). One assumes Kent’s version will be quite different.[end-mark] The post <i>Babadook</i> Director Jennifer Kent’s Next Film is a James Tiptree Jr. Adaptation appeared first on Reactor.