Netflix is Ready to 'Fool Me Once' Come New Year's Day

Netflix continues to expand its Harlan Coben library of adaptations heading into 2024. Though the writer is American (he hails from New Jersey), his novels slide easily into the mold of U.K. crime thrillers, and since the streaming service signed an overall deal with his production company Final Twist Productions in 2018 after becoming the international distributor for the Michael C. Hall starring Safe, the ongoing group of limited series have had a distinctly European flavor to them, with the English language ones all set in the U.K. (Out of the current seven on Netflix, two are in Polish, one each are in French and Spanish.) The eighth, arriving for the New Year, is Fool Me Once, and it will head back to the U.K. with several familiar faces.

Fool Me Once will once again bring back Richard Armitage, who has thus far starred in every English language Coben adaptation Netflix has done since taking over Coben's works, starting with The Stranger, released at the end of January 2020. In that one, he starred alongside PBS fan-favorites Siobhan Finneran (Downton Abbey) and Shaun Dooley (Grantchester). He then starred in Stay Close, which arrived almost exactly two years ago, on New Year's Eve 2021, co-starring Cush Jumbo (Criminal Record), James Nesbitt (Bloodlands), and Sarah Parrish (Doctor Who). 

This time, Armitage is co-starring with Michelle Keegan, who has yet to break out in the U.S., though she's huge in the U.K., having starred in the smash hits Our Girl, Brassic, and, most recently, Ten Pound Poms. The two star as a married couple whose relationship is brutally shattered by violence, or so she thinks. Check out the trailer.

Here's the official synopsis:

Fool Me Once follows Maya Stern who is trying to come to terms with the brutal murder of her husband, Joe. 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. 

Keegan and Armitage are joined by a stellar lineup of British talent, including Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) as Judith Burkett, Adeel Akhtar (Sherwood) as DS Sami Kierce, Emmett J. Scanlan (Peaky Blinders) as Shane Tessier, and Dino Fetscher (Years and Years) as Marty McGreggor. The series co-stars Marcus Garvey (Hijack), Natalie Anderson (Happy Valley), Natalia Kostrzewa (Calling Home), Adelle Leonce (A Discovery of Witches), and James Northcote (The Last Kingdom).

Fool Me Once is produced by Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street, which is also behind ITV and BritBox’s upcoming After the Flood. Shindler, a long-time Coben collaborator who also produced the Netflix adaptation of The Stranger, is executive producing alongside Coben, Danny Brocklehurst, and Richard Fee.

All eight episodes of Fool Me Once will arrive on Netflix on New Year’s Day, Monday, January 1, 2024.