Exclusive Interview
Nicholas Sparks on Bringing New Book ‘Remain’ to Life & Where Film Adaptation Stands
Prolific author Nicholas Sparks has joined forces with another legend of their craft, M. Night Shyamalan, for Remain. This supernatural love story, out now, is unlike anything Sparks has done before.
The best-selling writer and Shyamalan developed Remain simultaneously, with Sparks writing the novel, and the director penning the screenplay for the upcoming movie adaptation. The Notebook author told Swooon it was “an experience of a lifetime watching [Shyamalan] work and how he puts a film together.”
Remain follows architect Tate Donovan (no connection to the actor, we asked), who travels to Cape Cod to design a summer home for a friend. This is a fresh chapter for Tate after his hospitalization for severe depression following his sister’s death. He’s also trying to grapple with his sister’s deathbed confession that she could see spirits. At the bed-and-breakfast he’s staying at on Cape Cod, Tate’s world collides with a mysterious woman named Wren, and her presence changes how Tate views the logical world.
The novel is a love story in more than just a romantic way. Yes, Tate and Wren’s romance is at the center of Remain, but Tate’s love for his sister and grieving her loss are driving forces as well.
“The theme of the novel is how sometimes only love can save a person,” Sparks said. “I tend to believe that because I am one of these people who thinks all the good stuff in life comes from love: love of your parents, love of your siblings, your romantic partner, your pet, your job, your city, your town, your country, whatever. Real love, genuine, kind, giving, and forgiving love, it’s where all the good stuff comes from.”
Sparks noted that both he and Shyamalan “wanted to write something about the emotion from which everything good springs. It’s good timing for not only this novel, but for the film when it comes out as well.”
Amy Sussman / Getty Images / Pascal Le Segretain
Speaking of the film adaptation, production wrapped in August. Jake Gyllenhaal is set to play Tate alongside Bridgerton breakout Phoebe Dynevor. Sparks got the chance to see Gyllenhaal work, and he said the actor was “great” to work with and “brought his own elements, which often added to scenes that maybe Night didn’t even expect.”
The movie is set to be released on October 23, 2026. Both Sparks and Shyamalan are notorious for twists in their work, and they both might have a trick up their sleeve with Remain. “I’m not going to tell you if they end exactly the same,” Sparks told Swooon about the book and the film. “We’re both known for twists. But let me tell you this, Night and I did have discussions: Do we want the novel to end the same as the film or not?”
No matter how the film ends, both the book and the movie will have a common thread: hope. “One of the things I do toward the end of all of my novels is really leave the reader with a sense of hope, that no matter what has happened, a new day is coming, a new journey is about to begin. And let’s see where it goes.”
Remain, In Theaters, October 23, 2026
