Netflix's Harlan Coben Show Faces a Major Problem

The Exciting Announcement

Netflix has acquired the rights to adapt Harlan Coben's series of novels focused around the character, Mickey Bolitar. This announcement is especially exciting, consider Fool Me Once, which is also based on a Coben novel, isn't likely to get a season two, so this new show serves as the perfect replacement. The young adult books are internationally bestselling and follow a high school student who is determined to sift through his family's dangerous secrets in order to protect those that he loves.

Adrian Greensmith, Jaden Michael, and Abby Corrigan in Shelter.

In addition to crafting memorable characters and storylines, Coben is a master at connecting his novels to form a bigger literary universe. This has made it fun for readers to be able to spot familiar characters in Coben's work and see how they interact with one another. Despite this being a key part of Coben's novels, it will not be able to be recreated on-screen, and this is not the first time something like this has happened.

Rights Issues and Character Exclusions

Unfortunately, Netflix's upcoming adaptation of Harlan Coben's Myron Bolitar books won't be able to include a key character. This is because Amazon owns the rights to Shelter, which includes the character of Mickey. Mickey is Myron's nephew, so it would make sense for him to be included but rights issues prevent this from happening. In the same way that Mickey Bolitar won't be in the upcoming Netflix show, Myron was not in Shelter. This may be disappointing to viewers who would like to see the two characters' interactions on-screen, but is an unavoidable situation due to the fact that different platforms own the rights to different parts of Harlan Coben's collection of work.

Although disappointing, this is not the first time this situation has unfolded. Netflix's Myron Bolitar show is actually repeating an issue that happened with Amazon and the popular show, The Lincoln Lawyer. The Lincoln Lawyer is based on Michael Connelly's book of the same name, and Netflix owns the rights to it. The books and the show follow a character named Mickey Haller, who has a half-brother named Harry Bosch. Bosch has his own series of novels, which Amazon owns the rights to.

Unfortunate Crossovers and Quality Content

Despite Haller and Bosch's family connection, the two will not be able to connect on-screen. The same rights issue that plagues the Harlan Coben TV adaptations is faced by the Michael Connelly ones as well. Even though this makes for an unfortunate situation when it comes to crossovers, it can be argued that viewers are able to get more and better content out of it. It is unlikely that either platform would have been able to tackle adapting all of the work of either author, and if they attempted to, it is possible that the content could have been of lower quality.