Lifetime Orders Original Movie ‘The Gabby Petito Story’

Lifetime has greenlit the new television movie The Gabby Petito Story (working title), featuring and directed by Thora Birch and based on Petito’s now infamous disappearance and eventual murder last August. The film will be part of the cable network’s Stop Violence Against Women public affairs initiative.

The logline: The Gabby Petito Story will explore Gabby and her fiancé Brian Laundrie’s complicated relationship and what may have gone wrong during their cross-country trip that resulted in Gabby’s tragic murder. The movie will film in Utah this summer and premiere later this year.

Thora Birch will play Gabby’s mom, Nichole Schmidt. No other casting has been announced at press time.

The disappearance of Gabby Petito, of course, made the headlines, setting off a nationwide search for the 22-year-old travel blogger after her parents reported her missing in September 2021, when she failed to return home following her cross country van trip with her fiancé Brian Laundrie. The movie follow the life of Gabby and Brian’s doomed love story, including the warning signs that Gabby’s life was in danger, the ensuing search for her, the eventual discovery of her murder and ultimately, Brian’s suicide.

The Gabby Petito Story is produced for Lifetime by Hybrid. The film is written by Gregory Small and Richard Blaney (Gone Mom, Jodi Arias: Dirty Little Secret).