Happiness for Beginners release date, cast, synopsis, photos, and more

Katherine Center’s fifth novel Happiness for Beginners is becoming a Netflix film starring Ellie Kemper and Luke Grimes! Here’s everything you need to know about the movie, including what it’s about, the cast, and more.

Vicky Wright directs a screenplay she penned based on Center’s novel. This is Wright and Center’s second collab. Wright also wrote and directed the film adaptation of Center’s 2013 novel The Lost Husband, a 2020 romantic drama starring Josh Duhamel and Leslie Bibb. The author will serve as an executive producer on Happiness for Beginners.

Center’s 2019 book, Things You Save in the Fire, also has a film in the works with FBI‘s Missy Peregrym attached, although a different team is producing that one.

Happiness for Beginners release date

Netflix has announced the official release date for the Ellie Kemper-starring rom-com. Get ready because Happiness for Beginners arrives on Netflix on Thursday, July 27, 2023! This will surely be one of the best rom-coms of the summer.

Happiness for Beginners cast

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt alum Ellie Kemper stars as newly-divorced Helen Carpenter in Happiness for Beginners. She’s joined by Yellowstone‘s Luke Grimes, Crazy Rich Asians star Nico Santos, Meet the Parents actress Blythe Danner, and more!

Happiness for Beginners cast and characters list:

• Ellie Kemper as Helen Carpenter
• Luke Grimes as Jake
• Nico Santos as Hugh
• Blythe Danner as Gigi
• Ben Cook as Beckett
• Shayvawn Webster as Windy
• Esteban Benito as Mason
• Gus Birney as Kaylee
• Julia Shiplett as Sue

Happiness for Beginners synopsis

Kemper plays Hannah, a recently divorced woman striving to push past her comfort zone and take new risks now that she’s newly single. Signing up for a survival course sounds like the perfect way for Hannah to meet new people and broaden her horizons. Little does she know that hiking through the wilderness might also help her find love again.

Read the official synopsis shared by Netflix:

"Helen (Ellie Kemper) has always lived her life as far from the edge as possible. Finding herself newly divorced and a little lost, Helen decides she needs a reset and signs up for the “Adventure of a Lifetime!” The adventure is a backcountry survival course hiking the Appalachian Trail with a group of oddball strangers. From the beginning, Helen’s plan to be the best hiker is tested and she finds more than just herself in the wilderness. Based on the wildly popular novel by Katherine Center, Happiness For Beginners reminds us that sometimes you have to get lost before you’re found."

Happiness for Beginners first-look photos

On April 14, Netflix released some official production stills from the movie featuring some of the cast. Check them out below!

Is there a trailer for Happiness for Beginners?

Netflix has not released a teaser or a trailer for the movie yet. However, we can probably expect to see one by the end of June.

Happiness for Beginners premieres this July on Netflix. Have you read the book? What do you think of the casting? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below! Read the novel before it becomes a movie.

FanSided Entertainment Staff contributed to this report.