Netflix has confirmed that Indian-American actress Sarayu Blue will portray Ruma in its highly anticipated drama Unaccustomed Earth, based on Jhumpa Lahiri’s Pulitzer Prize-winning short story collection. Blue’s character is described as a determined Bengali-American mother, an accomplished lawyer, and the main provider for her household. While she supports a family of dreamers and artists, she quietly shoulders an emotional weight that few recognize.
The ensemble cast already features Freida Pinto, Indraneil Sengupta, Adi Roy, and Iyla Sundarsingh Mckaig. The eight-episode series centers on a close-knit Indian-American community in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and follows a romance between a devoted wife and a former love. Lahiri’s original 2008 collection won the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award for its moving portrayal of cultural displacement, generational divides, and the immigrant experience.
Blue, known for roles in Sons of Tucson, Monday Mornings, and NBC’s I Feel Bad, recently earned praise for her performance in Amazon Prime’s Expats, opposite Nicole Kidman. Her acting range spans comedy and drama, with her nuanced portrayal of cultural displacement in Expats serving as strong preparation for Unaccustomed Earth.
The adaptation comes from writer Madhuri Shekar (3 Body Problem), director Ritesh Batra (The Lunchbox), and veteran producer John Wells (The West Wing). Lahiri herself will serve as executive producer, ensuring authentic representation of the Bengali-American experience. Batra will direct the opening episodes, with Warner Bros. Television producing.
This marks the second major screen adaptation of Lahiri’s work after Mira Nair’s The Namesake (2006). Netflix has yet to announce the release date, but the series arrives amid growing interest in stories that explore immigrant identity and the balance between heritage and modern life. For Blue, playing Ruma offers an opportunity to deepen her portrayal of South Asian diaspora narratives and bring Lahiri’s layered characters to life for a global audience.
