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‘Stranger Things’ star Maya Hawke lands new role in Liz Moore's novel adaptation — here's everything we know

A powerful family and a quiet investigator collide as buried secrets resurface in Maya Hawke's new role in a case that refuses to stay hidden.

Maya Hawke is officially stepping into the lead role in ‘The God of the Woods,’ a new drama heading to Netflix, according to Tudum. The project had already been on the radar after Variety reported back in December 2025 that the streamer had given it the green light. The series is adapted from Liz Moore's novel and doesn’t exactly aim for light storytelling. Instead, it plants itself in the Adirondacks, where the Van Laar family finds themselves at the center of a mystery that refuses to stay buried.

The official logline reads, "The God of the Woods’ is a multigenerational drama series set in the Adirondacks. It explores the Van Laar family’s dark secrets, class tensions, and the mysterious disappearance of 13-year-old Barbara Van Laar from her family’s summer camp, in the wake of an earlier family tragedy that may be related. As the past and present collide, the Van Laars’ wealth and influence unravel, revealing the damaging consequences of privilege and the abuse of power." In the series, Hawke plays Judy Luptack, who is described as 'smart and quietly determined.' She is the first woman to work as an investigator in a male-dominated Bureau of Criminal Investigation, which already puts her in a position where she has to constantly prove herself. 

Judy is tasked with figuring out what happened to Barbara, but that job quickly becomes more than just following clues and interviewing witnesses. It’s about pushing past resistance, reading between the lines, and recognizing when people are telling half-truths. The setting doesn’t make things easier either. The Adirondacks bring a kind of isolation to the story, where everything looks calm on the surface, yet something underneath feels unsettled. And Hawke, if her past roles are anything to go by, knows how to sit in that kind of tension without overplaying it. This marks another collaboration between the actor and Netflix, where she became widely recognized for playing Robin Buckley in ‘Stranger Things’. She joined that series in its third season and stayed through to its conclusion in late 2025. 

Her television work doesn’t stop there either. She appeared alongside her father, Ethan Hawke, in ‘The Good Lord Bird’, and earlier in her career, she took on a role in the BBC adaptation of ‘Little Women’. On the film side, she’s been part of projects like ‘Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood’, ‘Asteroid City’, and even lent her voice to ‘Inside Out 2’. Behind the scenes, Moore herself is handling creative direction alongside Liz Hannah, with both taking on writing duties and co-showrunner roles. The production team also includes Neal H. Moritz and Pavun Shetty through Original Film, while Sony Pictures Television is backing the project. At this stage, there’s no confirmed release date, leaving viewers who are already curious in a bit of a waiting game.