Where the Crawdads Sing

Abandoned by her family as a child, Kya Clark grows up largely on her own in the marshes near Barkley Cove, a small town on the North Carolina coast. The townspeople treat her as an outsider, calling her the marsh girl, and she keeps her distance from them until two young men from town draw her into a world she has not known. When one of them is found dead, suspicion falls on Kya, and she must defend herself against a community that has already judged her.

The drama is directed by Olivia Newman, whose first feature was First Match in 2018, and written by Lucy Alibar. Daisy Edgar-Jones plays Kya, with Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson, David Strathairn, Michael Hyatt and Sterling Macer Jr. in supporting roles. Reese Witherspoon is among the producers, and the film was made for about 24 million dollars.

Released in July 2022, the film took in roughly 144 million dollars worldwide. Audiences have rated it 7.2 out of 10 on IMDb and 7.5 out of 10 on TMDB, while critics gave it 5.2 out of 10 across 221 reviews, so it went over considerably better with viewers than with reviewers. Newman's next feature, Remarkably Bright Creatures, followed in 2026.