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Q: Are there any plans to adapt Mick Herron's novels for film or TV? They seem suited to it.

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Author: 
Adam Thomlison / TV Media

There were plans, but they seem to have expired (which is what happens to plans in Hollywood).

There was some buzz two years ago that spy novelist Mick Herron's Jackson Lamb books were being turned into a TV series. Over here, the buzz was a little muted because it was all taking place in Herron's native Britain, but it started when See-Saw Films -- a major U.K. house behind massive hits such as 2010's "The King's Speech" and the prestige drama series "Top of the Lake" -- optioned Herron's first novel, "Slow Horses."

To "option," in Hollywood jargon, means to pay for the exclusive right to purchase something in the near future -- it basically means paying to make sure no one else can buy the property while you consider whether you want to buy it. But options, of course, expire, and that appears to be what happened in this case. 

See-Saw took out the option in 2017, and people reported on it at the time (including Herron himself on his official website), but nothing has been heard about that since, and it doesn't appear on See-Saw's current list of projects.

But it seems like just a matter of time before someone produces something based on Herron's books. Herron's popularity continues to grow in the lit world, and desire for his sort of book is growing in the film world.

Many have called Herron the heir to John le CarrĂ©, and le CarrĂ©'s books are in pretty high demand lately (to wit, the miniseries "The Night Manager" and "The Little Drummer Girl" as well as big-screen adaptations of "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" and "A Most Wanted Man"). 

 

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