Harlan Coben has admitted he worries he’ll never have another idea for a TV series or novel. The acclaimed author has found huge success with Netflix adapting Fool Me Once and now Missing You.
The mystery writer’s latest series adaptation, Missing You, landed on Netflix last week, featuring Slow Horses’s Rosalind Eleazar as Detective Inspector Kat Donovan searching for her fiancé years after he suddenly disappeared. Even though Coben has several other adaptations of his books in active development with Netflix and Prime Video, he has now revealed his insecurity over writing each new story.
Harlan Coben’s Missing You Premiered on Netflix on January 1, 2025
Speaking to The Radio Times, Coben explained why the completion of each of his novels leaves him feeling worried for the future. “Each time I finish a book, I’m the emptiest of vessels. Nothing left,” he explained. “I’m like the defeated boxer who thinks he’ll never lift his arms again.”
The author went on: “I fear I’ll never have an idea again. If I do have one while writing a book, it goes into the book I’m writing, which may be why I’m plot-heavy and twisty. I’ve just finished a book and have no idea what I’ll do next.”
“Each time I finish a book, I’m the emptiest of vessels. Nothing left.”
Luckily for Coben, he has yet to run out of story ideas. The writer is currently working with Prime Video on Lazarus, a concept he developed directly for streaming TV. Bill Nighy has the title role in Lazarus, and will be co-starring with Killing Eve’s Alexandra Roach and Peaky Blinders actor Sam Claflin. The series revolves around Claflin’s Laz, a forensic pathologist, investigating cold cases in his hometown after returning for the funeral of his father, Dr Lazarus (Nighy). Lazarus is the most recent collaboration between Coben and Danny Brocklehurst after their work together on Fool Me Once, Safe and The Stranger.
Coben spoke about why Lazarus was developed directly as a streaming TV series, rather than starting out as a novel, like many of his projects. “It’s a feel thing. I just finished filming a series called Lazarus with Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin. That was an original idea. I thought, ‘I could write this as a novel, but I’m seeing it as a TV series.’ It’s a little more of a ghost story, very visual.”
Harlan Coben Signed a Development Deal with Netflix in 2018
Netflix Won the Rights to Adapt a Selection of Harlan Coben’s Novels into TV Series
| Harlan Coben’s English-Language Netflix Adaptations | |
|---|---|
| Series | Stars |
| Safe | Michael C. Hall, Amanda Abbington and Marc Warren |
| The Stranger | Richard Armitage, Siobhan Finneran, and Hannah John-Kamen |
| Stay Close | Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt and Richard Armitage |
| Fool Me Once | Michelle Keegan, Adeel Akhtar and Richard Armitage |
| Missing You | Rosalind Eleazar, Jessica Plummer and Richard Armitage |
For now, Missing You looks to be another hit for Coben and Netflix. The author has again attracted a huge international cast, including comedy legends Lenny Henry and Steve Pemberton, Top Boy lead actor Ashley Walters, Sex Education’s Samantha Spiro and The Hobbit star James Nesbitt. Danny Brocklehurst has once again partnered with Coben for Missing You, though this time as executive producer instead of as primary screenwriter. Victoria Asare-Archer came on board as lead screenwriter for Missing You, after previously working with the author on Stay Close.
Netflix’s official synopsis for Missing You teases the central mystery at the heart of the thriller series: “When Detective Kat Donovan (Rosalind Eleazar) comes across her former fiancé on a dating app — the man who left her 11 years earlier without a trace — she finally has an opportunity to get the answers she’s always wanted. But nothing is quite what it seems. Kat soon realizes that Josh (Ashley Walters) might be connected to a missing persons case she’s investigating, as well as her father’s murder. Now with more questions than ever, Kat begins to wonder who she can trust as she tries to uncover what really happened.”
Harlan Coben is One of the Most Successful Mystery Writers of his Generation
- Harlan Coben’s works have been translated into 43 languages, including multiple TV adaptions for international markets.
- The author’s works have sold more than 60 million copies worldwide and he has won prestigious literary prizes such as the Edgar Award, from the Mystery Writers of America, and the Shamus Award, from the Private Eye Writers of America.
- Coben’s multi-year pact with Netflix to adapt his work was extended for four more years in 2022.
Missing You is now streaming on Netflix.
