David E. Kelley Joins Harlan Coben for Netflix Series Myron Bolitar

Emmy winner David E. Kelley is helping bring another beloved book character from a bestselling author to Netflix. The prolific writer-producer who created Netflix's The Lincoln Lawyer, based on the novels by Michael Connelly, has teamed up with Harlan Coben to adapt his Myron Bolitar novels into a television series.



In addition to writing the script, Kelley (pictured) and Coben are executive producing the potential series with David E. Kelley Prods president Matthew Tinker. Netflix declined to comment.

The project was a priority for Netflix when it extended its overall deal with Coben in 2022. The original deal gave the streamer access to 14 of Coben’s books to develop into English-language and foreign-language series and films. The 2022 deal added 12 more titles: Coben’s signature 11-book Myron Bolitar series and the 2021 standalone novella Win , for adaptation as an ongoing, U.S.-based series.

The books’ title character is a former basketball star who has become the owner of an agency that represents sports stars and celebrities. There have been attempts to adapt the novels in the past, including as a feature film, with Coben being particularly protective of the character.

“Certainly Myron Bolitar is dear to my heart,” he told Deadline at the time of his Netflix deal renewal in 2022. “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.”

Netflix has turned adaptations of Coben novels into something of a cottage industry, launching a slate of series in four languages ​​across multiple countries. They include one of the streamer’s most popular series, the British Fool Me Once, as well as Stay Close, The Stranger (2020), The Innocent, Gone for Good, Hold Tight, The Woods, and the recently released Missing You.



This month alone, Coben (pictured) has released two more limited series, the Polish-language Just One Look , which debuted March 5, and the Spanish-language Caught , which debuted yesterday.

Netflix’s first American Coben adaptation, the limited series I Will Find You , has just cast Sam Worthington as the lead.

At Netflix, Kelley also recently created and executive produced the limited series A Man in Full starring Jeff Daniels. He also has Presumed Innocent returning for a second season for Apple TV+, and the upcoming limited series Margo’s Got Money Troubles , starring Elle Fanning, also for Apple TV+.