« Argylle » is an expensive, star-studded spy thriller coming soon to Apple TV Plus. The identity of the writer, however, is a mystery.
As a fan of spy movies and TV shows like Tehran and Slow Horses on Apple TV Plus, I naturally was excited by the news that Apple has also paid a serious chunk of change to bring Argylle — a lavish, star-studded spy movie — to its streamer, sometime in 2023.
The cast for the movie, based on a forthcoming book of the same name, includes pop superstar Dua Lipa, as well as The Witcher’s Henry Cavill. We’ll also see Sam Rockwell, Bryce Dallas Howard, Bryan Cranston, Catherine O’Hara, John Cena, and Samuel L. Jackson in the movie, which is apparently about a novelist who’d once been a superspy and who now suffers from amnesia.
I say “apparently,” because here’s the thing. There’s a pretty strange mystery surrounding this movie and its source material. Long story short, no pun intended, what the iPhone maker bought here is the rights to make a $200 million Apple TV Plus movie out of a novel from 1) a first-time author named Elly Conway with 2) almost no presence of any kind online. And it gets even weirder.
In addition to Apple spending a huge sum of money to adapt something from a super-mysterious, first-time writer — who barely has a digital footprint, beyond 4) an empty Instagram account with no posts and that follows no one (@authorellyconway) — the book that Argylle is based on won’t even be published until next year. In fact, this Apple TV Plus deal was reportedly made on the strength of 5) simply a draft manuscript.
