Richard Armitage (“The Hobbit” trilogy), Michelle Keegan (“Brassic”) and “Absolutely Fabulous” star Joanna Lumley are set to lead the cast of new Netflix series “Fool Me Once.”
based on the Harlan Coben novel of the same name and produced by Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street Productions, the eight-part series stars Keegan (pictured above on set) as Maya Stern, a woman who is struggling to resume her life after her husband Joe (Armitage) is brutally murdered. But things take a turn after Maya spots someone on the nanny cam she has installed throughout her home to keep an eye on her young daughter…someone who is supposed to be dead. Meanwhile Maya’s niece and nephew are also reeling from the murder of their mother several months earlier and set out to find out the truth. Could the two tragedies be related?
Lumley stars as Judith, Joe’s protective mother.
Also part of the cast are Emmett J.Scanlan (“Kin”) as Shane Tessier, Dino Fetscher (“Years and Years”) as Marty McGreggor and “Ali & Ava’s” Adeel Akhtar, who plays Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce, the lead investigator on Joe’s murder and a man grappling with secrets of his own.
“Fool Me Once” is the eighth project to emerge from Coben’s partnership with Netflix, which has seen his works adapted in four languages. Previous collaborations include following “Safe,” “The Stranger” and “Stay Close.” Like previous adaptations, the series will be relocated from the U.S. to the U.K., with the show already in production in Manchester and the Northwest of England.
Coben exec produces alongside Shindler, series writer Danny Brocklehurst and Richard Fee. Charlotte Coben, Yemi Oyefuwa, Nina Metivier and Tom Farrelly are also writing on the show while “Outlander” helmer David Moore will lead direct. Nimer Rashed will direct the series’ second block.
Jessica Taylor (“Happy Valley”) is producing.
“I’m thrilled and honoured to once again be collaborating with my uber-talented partners Danny, Nicola and Richard,” said Coben. “‘Fool Me Once’ will be our fourth Netflix series together, and man, it never gets old! ‘Fool Me Once’ is a pulse-pounder — a shocking story of how secrets and deceit have the power to bring people together while simultaneously tearing them apart. I can’t wait to see how this dream cast brings these characters to life.”
Shindler and Fee, who exec produce for Quay Street, added: “Harlan is a master of twists and turns that are impossible to predict, which is what makes adapting his books for television impossible to resist! ‘Fool Me Once’ is no different, we’re incredibly excited to bring the story to life with an all-star cast.”
