Trailer, cast and release date for Prime Video forensic thriller series Scarpetta

The character of Forensic Pathologist Kay Scarpetta is well known to book readers who enjoy Patricia Cornwell’s dark and compelling series of thriller novels (30 in total).

The character of Scarpetta is a cool, sharply dressed blonde who enjoys cooking complicated Italian dishes, while also spending her work hours up to her elbows in dead bodies and internal organs.

As the Chief Medical Examiner, she has to see the grisly aftermath of the atrocities humans visit upon one another, and is an invaluable resource to various law enforcement agencies.

Cornwell is particularly well-suited to writing about her chosen subject matter, since she worked for the Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia for sever years. That gave her an insight that most authors don’t have.

Cornwell’s popular novels have been adapted into a new series for Prime Video called Scarpetta, and the cast is pretty spectacular. Nicole Kidman will be playing Scarpetta, Jamie Lee Curtis is portraying her flighty sister Dorothy, and Ariana DeBose plays Scarpetta’s genius niece Lucy (Dorothy’s neglected daughter), with whom she has a very close relationship.

Rounding out the cast are Bobby Cannavale as Detective Pete Marino, and Simon Baker (The Mentalist) as FBI profiler Benton Wesley. Viewers will also have the chance to see younger versions of the characters since the series boasts a dual timeline that will explore Scarpetta’s past.

In the current timeline, Scarpetta has returned to her hometown, and is investigating an especially grisly murder.

Scarpetta will begin streaming on Prime Video on March 11

Scarpetta is based on the first and twenty-fifth novels in the series, Post Mortem and Autopsy. While that seems like a pretty broad spread of time, I suppose it makes sense given the duo timeline of the series.

In Post Mortem, Kay is part of the investigative team into a series of gruesome murders in Virginia. In an effort to flush out the killer, Scarpetta, FBI profiler Wesley, and a reporter push a public narrative that the killer is mentally ill. This of course puts Scarpetta herself in the line of fire.

In Autopsy, Scarpetta had relocated to Florida, but returns to Virginia to her role as Chief Medical Examiner. As part of an investigation, she confers with astronauts, who have to conduct two autopsies while in space, and also follows up on an already completed autopsy that she thinks was originally botched.

How closely the series will follow the plotlines in both books remains to be seen, but you can watch the newly released trailer for Scarpetta to get an idea.