Myron Bolitar Series In Works At Netflix As Harlan Coben Extends Overall Deal At Streamer

Nellie Andreeva
·10 min read
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EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has re-upped its overall deal with international bestselling author Harlan Coben. The original five-year, multimillion-dollar pact gave Netflix access to 14 Coben books to develop, in partnership with the author, into English-language and foreign-language series as well as films. The new deal, believed to be for four years, adds 12 more Coben titles including his signature 11-book Myron Bolitar series as well as 2021’s Win.

A Myron Bolitar TV series is in early development at Netflix. It will keep the novels’ U.S. setting to possibly become the streamer’s first American-produced show based on Coben’s novels. The books’ title character is a former top basketball player-turned-owner of agency representing sports stars and celebrities.

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So far, seven of the prolific American author’s novels have been turned into Netflix limited series: three in the UK (Safe, in 2018; The Stranger, 2020; Stay Close, 2021), two in Poland (The Woods, 2020; and Hold Tight, 2022) as well as one each in Spain (The Innocent, 2021) and France (Gone For Good, 2021).

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In an interview with Deadline, Coben discusses extending his relationship with Netflix, the Myron Bolitar series, and more.

DEADLINE: Talk about the decision to extend the Netflix deal.

COBEN: The relationship has been really fantastic. I think it’s been a bigger success than either one of us anticipated: seven shows, four different languages, several countries, tons of viewers. So we all thought we should keep going, making what we’re doing. And I think the key piece now is that they’ve added Myron Bolitar into the mix. One of our main goals is to make a Myron Bolitar series here in the USA while we continue to do the work that we’ve been doing overseas in both the countries we’ve already had success in and some new ones I hope.

DEADLINE: Will you be writing the Myron Bolitar series adaptation or will you bring in another writer?

COBEN: It’s early, so we haven’t made a final decision yet or who’s going. I am involved always in some capacity but I don’t know if I’ll be the one who’s going to write the pilot or just be an executive producer on it — depends on who we ended up with and how it’s going to work. Part of the great joy with Netflix is that everybody I’ve worked with there has been extraordinarily open, and my role is bigger or smaller depending on the situation, who we have, what they think they need from me; it’s on a case-by-case basis.

Certainly Myron Bolitar is dear to my heart. I’ve written 34 books, a third of them involved Myron Bolitar; he is my most prized possession, and I’m really happy now that it’s in the Netflix camp, so that we can work hard on making it right. It’s one of the properties I’ve probably been a little bit more precious about. It’s easier to move a story like The Stranger or Stay Close to another country. Myron being a series character that people read over and over again, takes a little bit more care and has to be in the USA. So I’m very excited about getting started on that.

DEADLINE: This will be an ongoing series, correct? All of your previous shows for Netflix have been limited series.

COBEN: Yes, that’s the goal. As you pointed out, we’d set the goal for limited series on the other ones, though, at times we’ve looked at it — and again, this is the beauty of Netflix. The Stranger and Stay Close, for example, did very, very well and we were discussing, should we do a second season, or should we do something new and original? And to me it felt a little forced to do a second season on those. So I said, instead of doing a second season of The Stranger, let’s do Stay Close, and they’ve agreed. But Myron Bolitar, because there are so many books and there are so many stories, and it was created as an ongoing character, that will be how we will try to make the show, it will be an ongoing show.

DEADLINE: Do you have any actors in mind to play Myron. Do you have a dream casting choice?

COBEN: I don’t. I’ll be honest, that’s always been a hard thing for me. With a regular character — Matt was played by Mario Casas in Spain, or Adam who was played by Richard Armitage, or Cush Jumbo playing Cassie — I can change those people around. Myron is much harder because people have a very definite idea of what he looks like. So actually no actors really comes to mind. Many years ago I had looked at trying to make Myron into a movie, and they were talking about all the big famous movie stars of the day. All of them are wonderfully talented but I was like, I can’t see that guy as Myron. So it’ll be very hard. I am confident that Netflix will scour the world in casting and will find the perfect person for us.

DEADLINE: Have you decided which of the 11 books will kick off the TV series?

COBEN: That’s also something to discuss when I find the perfect creative partners. It’s funny, I did The Innocent in Spain with a wonderful well-known director named Oriol Paulo and Mario Casas, who is a huge star — it’s really great firepower. And Oriol Paulo put it perfectly when he described what Netflix did by putting us together, “creative Tinder,” Tinder for creatives, we were like a perfect match for one another. We just saw eye to eye, we shared a vision. And so I’m hoping that Netflix’s “creative Tinder” finds us the perfect team to develop Myron Bolitar.

DEADLINE: Why is it now that Netflix is being able to adapt Myron Bolitar and not the first time around? Were the rights not available?

COBEN: At times, it’d been under other option elsewhere. And also, I think with this new deal, we’ve now gotten to know each other well enough to realize that our mix, the mix of Harlan Coben, the mix of me and Netflix, works. And so we both want to expand that relationship.

DEADLINE: Will we see Myron’s nephew Mickey Bolitar on the show or are his rights tied up at Amazon?

COBEN: I don’t know how rights work. He is tied up at Amazon right now. So who knows, maybe we’ll get to do something at some point but right now, there’d be no plans for him to be in the series. Mickey doesn’t really cross into the Myron series except for one or two books, so I don’t think that’ll be an issue. Amazon’s Mickey Bolitar series, Shelter, is filming right now.

DEADLINE: Will the new deal include other U.S. series or will the focus still be on international productions, with Myron Bolitar as an exception?

COBEN: Both. We’re working on a couple other U.S. series. But we also are going to do more with the British team that I’ve been lucky enough to work with on Safe, The Stranger and Stay Close; we’re hoping to make at least one, maybe two more series with that team. We’re looking at other European countries, I’d like to try doing a Netflix Germany or Netflix Italy show, as well as returning to France and Spain. And maybe a third show in Poland. I hope to spread out even; I’d love to do something in India and Asia as time goes on. We’re looking at Netflix Brazil, Netflix Argentina, perhaps Netflix Mexico, we’re working on certain projects with the teams that have been already successful in those areas. Our goals are very ambitious.

And yes, part of the expansion part of the new deal is that we’ll be working on a Myron Bolitar series — and several others — that will be U.S.-based as well.

DEADLINE: How does adapting your books in another language work? I don’t know how many languages you speak — I assume you don’t speak Polish. Do you read scripts that are translated to you? How do you make sure that the local versions represent the spirit of the novels?

COBEN: I don’t speak any languages. Even though I’ve done now four productions in France, I still don’t speak any French, so I’m really bad with foreign languages. They do translate them all for me. Sometimes that means the dialogue is difficult for me to make sure it has the right nuance. So I will talk to actors, I will talk to people who speak the language. For the most part, I have to trust my team. There are local things that I don’t quite get, which makes it more interesting for me in some ways.

A quick example from when we did The Woods in Poland. I based The Woods stories in two different time zones, one when kids are in summer camp as teenagers and then the same people as adults, which I thought was really a wonderful and interesting technique. Summer camps in the United States are very, very different than the summer camps that we chose to do in Poland. They were explaining to me what their camps are like. Can I tell you that those are really authentic camps? I can because everyone in Poland told me, boy, you captured it. But I have to respect the fact that I’m doing it now in Warsaw, and not New Jersey and Massachusetts where I’d set the book, and that’s part of the collaboration.

For some people, that’s a negative. For me, I think it’s the opposite. I think the hybrid makes it more interesting. I think taking the American story and American sensibilities and combining it with a location that may be less familiar to some people or a different world actually enhances the story. And I also think in my case, it gives the stories more variety. There are people who love all seven shows. There are some people who love the more moody pace of the Polish shows. There’s some who love the bonkers fun, I would call it, of the British shows. There are some some who like the gritty realism of the Spanish show. So there’s something for everybody in a way, and for me, it gives me a chance to explore new ways of telling the story. That’s the gift that Netflix has really given me as a storyteller.

DEADLINE: Are you involved in the creation of English-language dubbing or subtitles for your shows?

COBEN: I see them and I can sometimes say to them, that’s really awkward phrasing. Do we have anything a little better than that? I personally am not a fan of dubbing. I get it, people want to do it, I respect that. I would always encourage people to use the subtitles if they can.

DEADLINE: Are there new series projects under the Netflix deal that are in advanced stages?

COBEN: Nothing that I can really reveal but there are at least two or three that are in the works in some status of going very soon.

DEADLINE: You most recently released Match. What is next for you on the book publishing side?

COBEN: The next one, coming out in March, is called I Will Find You. And even though I’m not done with the book, I’m working with Netflix already on that one. It was something I had told them about before I even started the book and they were like, that sounds really cool. So I’m already trying to — which is I think a new thing — I’m trying to do it before the novel is even completed because I had enough of the story for us to start on our way outside of that.

Coben is repped by UTA and Gendler & Kelly.

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