Netflix announces two new Harlan Coben series after Fool Me Once success

Netflix has announced two new Harlan Coben adaptations following the success of Fool Me Once.

That series, which stars Michelle Keegan and Richard Armitage, debuted on 1 January and has since amassed 61 million views globally.

It will be followed by adaptations of Coben’s 2014 novel Missing You and 2019’s Run Away.

Coben will serve as executive producer for both series through his company, Final Twist Productions.

In 2018, the author signed a five-year mega-deal with Netflix, allowing the streamer to adapt 14 of his novels into English and foreign-language TV series.

Fool Me Once was the fourth English production, following Safe (2018), The Stranger (2020) and Stay Close (2022), but there are also shows in French, Spanish and Polish.

Per a Netflix statement, the Missing You logline reads: “Eleven years ago Detective Kat Donovan’s fiancé Josh – the love of her life – disappeared and she’s never heard from him since.

“Now, swiping profiles on a dating app, she suddenly sees his face and her world explodes all over again. Josh’s reappearance will force her to dive back into the mystery surrounding her father’s murder and uncover long-buried secrets from her past.”

Run Away will follow protagonist Simon who: “had the perfect life: loving wife and kids, great job, beautiful home. But then his eldest daughter Paige ran away and everything fell apart.

“So now when he finds her, vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park, he finally has the chance to bring his little girl home. But it turns out she’s not alone and an argument escalates into shocking violence that will shatter Simon’s life all over again. His search for his daughter will take him into a dangerous underworld, revealing deep secrets that could tear his family apart forever.”

Filming for Missing You is set to commence in the UK in spring 2024.

Earlier this month, The Independent’s Katie Rosseinsky explored how the Harlan Coben Universe took over Netflix.

Meanwhile, television critic Nick Hilton argued that your tolerance for Fool Me Once would “hinge entirely on your ability to turn off your brain.”

In a one-star review, Hilton wrote: “This is not TV to watch with your full attention. It is TV to watch while you think about that letter from HMRC, or you chop potatoes for your Sunday roast, or manicure your dog’s claws. It’s TV that has the capacity to shock you – not because the plot is shocking, but because you’re shocked it’s still on. Did the final episode autoplay? Ah well, it’s over now – unlike the Coben adaptations, which will keep on coming and coming.”