EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is working to lock down its latest Harlan Coben adaptation, in a project that will reunite the bestselling author with the production company behind The Stranger.
Deadline understands that the streamer is finalizing a deal to reimagine Coben’s 2012 novel Stay Close for the screen, with British producer Red Production Company making the drama.
Coben and Red adapted The Stranger for Netflix in January, while they also worked together on the 2018 mini-series Safe. Their other previous collaboration came on The Five in 2016, which aired on Sky in the UK and Netflix in the U.S.
Netflix and Red are still working out the details of the project, including attaching a writer and cast. Danny Brocklehurst was the lead writer on Red’s adaptations of The Stranger, Safe and The Five.
Stay Close tells the story of three people hiding dark secrets and living lives they never wanted. Megan is a soccer mum with a wild past and growing sense of dissatisfaction; Ray’s talents as a documentary photographer are being wasted in a dead-end paparazzi job; while Broome is a detective struggling to let go of a cold case. Eventually, the consequences of their past actions crash together in the present day.
Coben signed a five-year overall deal with Netflix in August 2018, which included a pact to develop 14 of his titles into English language and foreign-language series, as well as films.
The latest project to emerge from the partnership is mystery thriller The Woods, which has been adapted as a Polish original and centers on a Warsaw prosecutor who learns of new evidence about his sister’s disappearance 25 years ago. The series premieres on June 12.
Deadline revealed earlier this month that Netflix has acquired Coben bestseller Six Years for Bright director David Ayer to write, direct and produce with Chris Long through their Cedar Park banner.