<i>People We Meet on Vacation</i>: What We Know So Far About the Emily Henry Film

Poppy and Alex—the romantic leads of Emily Henry’s bestselling novel People We Meet on Vacation—are embarking on a world tour. With a film adaptation of Henry’s 2021 book officially in the works, the actors fortunate enough to play the polar-opposite pair (My Lady Jane actress Emily Bader and The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes actor Tom Blyth) are going to need a few spare pages in their passports.

Like the book it’s based upon, the romantic comedy film will follow the slow-burn love story between two longtime BFFs. Every year, Poppy and Alex spend a weeklong vacation together in some form of paradise. But ever since their disastrous trip to Croatia, they’ve considered the other persona non grata. So Poppy devises a Hail Mary to rescue their friendship: She’ll invite Alex on one final trip to Palm Springs, where umbrella drinks and perfect sunsets can surely clarify exactly what’s between them.

Henry and her collaborators first announced the adaptation news in October 2022, and since then, it’s become the first of Henry’s book adaptations to go into production. Here’s what we know so far about the project.

Who’s in the cast?

Deadline reported in August 2024 that Bader and Blyth would star as Poppy and Alex. And EmHen fans should rest assured that the author understands the importance of having the right Poppy and Alex. “I trust the directors that we have, and I think that they really get it,” she told Variety in March. “They also know that I’m always watching my readers, and I want them to be happy. So in my involvement in every single adaptation, my main goal is to represent the readers’ interests.”

In September, four more cast members joined the project, also per Deadline: Lucien Laviscount (Emily in Paris), Lukas Gage (The White Lotus), Sarah Catherine Hook (also The White Lotus), and Jameela Jamil (The Good Place). Their roles have yet to be announced.

Brett Haley (Hearts Beat Loud) is signed up to direct, with Henry’s fellow romance author Yulin Kuang (I Ship It, Dollface) adapting the screenplay.

What is the status of production?

The project’s in active development but has yet to begin filming. It’s clear the creative team feels the pressure to work efficiently, knowing there’s a large fandom waiting: The book first debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list in 2021 and sold more than one million copies in the U.S. As Kuang outlined for ELLE in April 2024, she first read the manuscript of People We Meet on Vacation and thought, “There’s more locations than a James Bond movie in here.” But, she continued, the story “is doing what I want to do in terms of romance and reinvigorating the genre. I think rom-coms can have this flattened feeling, sometimes, because we associate comedy with it so much. But I think there are things on the bluer side of the human emotional spectrum within Emily’s work that I really resonate with.”

In March 2024, Henry shared with Variety that the People We Meet on Vacation screenplay “has gone through a lot of different drafts” but should “be ready very soon,” adding that she speaks with Haley “at least weekly” for progress updates.

People We Meet on Vacation will premiere on Netflix on Jan. 9, 2026.

This story will be updated.