Harlan Coben’s 'Run Away' Will Reunite James Nesbitt & Minnie Driver

Netflix has been actively building on the success of its Harlan Coben franchise ever since the streaming service first saw how well adaptations of the author's novels did on the platform back in 2018. It helped that the first adaptations, which were not Netflix-produced, reset the New Jersey/New York set mysteries in various European countries (and languages; out of the current nine on Netflix, two are in Polish, one in French, and one in Spanish). When Netflix bought up the rights to Coben's works, it also reset them across the pond, starting with 2020's The Stranger, and accidentally turned the run of limited series into a New Year's Day tradition in the U.K. 

After Fool Me Once dominated the U.K. ratings on New Year's 2024, Netflix scooped up two more: Missing You, which debuted on New Year's Day 2025, and Run Away, which has just entered production. Like all of Netflix's Coben series, the action is reset to the U.K. again, and the cast features British, Irish, and American stars. The newest adaptation will bring back James Nesbitt (Bloodlands) to the Coben franchise; he last appeared in Stay Close, which debuted on Netflix on New Year's Eve 2021. Like others who have appeared in multiple Coben works, he plays a new role each time; in this one, he'll star as Simon Greene, a husband and father desperately trying to put his life back together. 

Nesbitt will co-star alongside Minnie Driver (The Serpent Queen), who plays his wife, Ingrid. Though this is Driver's first turn in a Coben adaptation, she and Nesbitt have worked together before, most notably in the 2010 BBC underwater thriller The Deep.

Here's the series synopsis:

Simon had the perfect life: a loving wife and kids, a great job, and a beautiful home. But then his eldest daughter Paige ran away, and everything fell apart. So now, when he finds her vulnerable and strung out on drugs in a city park, he finally has the chance to bring his little girl home. But it turns out she’s not alone, and an argument escalates into shocking violence. In the aftermath, Simon loses his daughter all over again, and his search to find her will take him into a dangerous underworld, revealing deep secrets that could tear his family apart forever.

Nesbitt and Driver costar alongside Ruth Jones (Gavin & Stacey), Alfred Enoch (The Couple Next Door), Lucian Msamati (Conclave), Jon Pointing (Big Boys), Ellie de Lange (Wolf Hall), Tracy-Ann Oberman (It's a Sin), Annette Badland (Ted Lasso), Ingrid Oliver (The Thursday Murder Club), Maeve Courtier-Lilley (The Red King), Finty Williams (Cranford), Joe McGann (Kaos), Amy Gledhill (Big Mood), Ellie Henry (Hollyoaks), and Adrian Greensmith (Three Body Problem). Notably, Richard Armitage, who has starred in every English language adaptation of a Harlan Coben novel produced by Netflix since 2018, is not listed in the cast. One hopes that Netflix will keep the streak alive and announce him in a future press release.

Danny Brocklehurst, who adapted Fool Me Once, will pen all eight episodes of Run Away. The director has not been announced, but Coben and Brocklehurst will executive produce, along with Richard Fee and Nicola Shindler for Quay Street Productions. 

The series has commenced filming in the U.K. and is expected out for New Year's 2026.