Harlan Coben reveals what authors get wrong about TV adaptations

Few authors know TV adaptations better than Harlan Coben. The author and producer of more than 13 Netflix shows shared a key mistake that many authors make with adaptations on How I Write with David Perell.

"You know, look, reading is a different experience than watching TV, which is one of the reasons when I do adaptations, I don't mind making huge changes," Coben said. "Because, I think the mistake people try to do is, 'I want my TV series to be a faithful reproduction of my novel.'"

Coben stopped by the podcast to promote his new memoir and craft book, Plot Twist: Life, Craft, and the Messy First Draft, which was just released on Sept. 9, 2026.

I feel like this is a great point from Coben, though. As mentioned, there are few authors who have had their work adapted more than Coben. He's going to surpass 20 TV shows based on his books in the coming year.

"If you want the experience of reading I Will Find You, read I Will Find You," Coben continued. "Why would I want you to repeat the exact same experience on Netflix? I want the experience to be slightly different."

Why making changes has worked so well for Harlan Coben's adaptations

Of course, Coben didn't mean that he wanted to see his plot points and characters changed completely from book to TV series, but he gave a really good example from Netflix's The Stranger, which premiered in 2020.

In the series, a stranger, played by Hannah John-Kamen, blackmails people by threatening to reveal their secrets if they don't pay her price. Well, in Coben's book the series is based on, the stranger was actually a computer nerd, stalker-type fellow, but they gender-flipped the role because it just worked a lot better.

"When I did the show called The Stranger, the stranger in the book was a sort of male, computer nerd guy, and visually, that just didn't work," Coben said. "We ended up hiring an actress named Hannah John-Kamen. So, I made a character younger and female who had this really cool vibe to her. And, when she came on, instantly, you sort of got ready for the stranger's visit, just visually."

Again, these are all fair points. One of the reasons that Coben's books have likely been adapted so many times now is because he seems so chill to work with. I don't know if that's actually true, but you can see the dilemma he presents causing problems for those behind the scenes and with TV shows. Coben seems willing to do the best for the story even if that means making changes to the source material to make it work. That flexibility feels important.

Of course, there's more than one way to make a TV adaptation. I'm sure some authors are much more rigid with how they want their stories told, but I do commend Coben on his ability to make changes to make a product better while understanding that the TV show making that change doesn't hurt his book in any way.

Coben's on quite the terrific run at Netflix right now, too! His latest series, I Will Find You, is the biggest Netflix show of the year so far, and it's one of the biggest Netflix shows of all time. As I shared recently, only seasons of Stranger Things, Wednesday, Adolescence, and Squid Game have had bigger premieres than I Will Find You. It's also, by far, Coben's most successful show to date.

The other good news is that we have more of Coben's Netflix shows coming soon. The Woods, which stars Tom Bateman and Michelle Keegan, is almost done filming in the UK. We should see that early next year.

We also have Coben's second American series, Myron Bolitar, which is being developed by the great David E. Kelley. That is the show that will likely be Coben's biggest series of all time.

We'll share more news about Coben's other shows in the works as we find out!

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