David Farnor | On 24, Feb 2023

Michelle Keegan and Richard Armitage are heading to Netflix for new thriller Fool Me Once.

Based on Harlan Coben’s novel, the series will follow Maya Stern (Michelle Keegan) who is trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of her husband, Joe (Richard Armitage). But when Maya installs a nanny-cam to keep an eye on her young daughter, she is shocked to see a man she recognises in her house. Her husband, who she thought was dead…

Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce leads the homicide investigation into Joe’s death while grappling with secrets of his own. Meanwhile, Maya’s niece and nephew, Abby and Daniel, are trying to find the truth about their mother’s murder, several months earlier. Are the two cases connected? Fool Me Once follows these characters on a thrilling hunt for the truth that will reveal shocking secrets and change their lives forever.

Produced by Quay Street Productions, the series is exec-produced by Coben, Danny Brocklehurst (Brassic, Come Home), Nicola Shindler and Richard Fee. Brocklehurst will serve as lead writer, with the writing team including Charlotte Coben, Yemi Oyefuwa, Nina Metivier and Tom Farrelly. Directors will include David Moore (Outlander, The Last Kingdom) (lead director, blocks 1 and 3) and Nimer Rashed (block 2).

Fool Me Once will be the 8th onscreen adaptation from Coben through his ongoing creative partnership with Netflix. In keeping with previous adaptations, the eight-part series will relocate the story from the US to the UK. On screen, Keegan and Armitage will be joined by Adeel Akhtar (Sweet Tooth, Ali & Ava) as Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce, Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous, Finding Alice) as Joe’s protective mother, Judith Burkett, Emmett J Scanlan (Kin, Peaky Blinders) as Shane Tessier, and Dino Fetscher (Years and Years, Foundation) as Marty McGreggor.

Coben: “I’m thrilled and honoured to once again be collaborating with my uber-talented partners Danny, Nicola and Richard. Fool Me Once will be our fourth Netflix series [following Safe, The Stranger and Stay Close] 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.”

Filming has now started in Manchester and the Northwest of England.

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