This year’s Run Away was another talked-about thriller to add to Harlan Coben‘s Netflix reign – and now, his next exciting TV project has been unveiled along with some great cast additions.
The Woods is set to be the next Coben series we’ll all likely become obsessed with, with production on the series having just kicked off. If you’re wondering whether it has any connection to the previous Polish-language Coben adaptation of the same name, then it appears as though both series are based on Coben’s 2007 novel of the same name.
The Polish-language series was released back in 2020 but now, it looks set to get a new lease of life as the star-studded cast has been announced – including one of Coben’s most successful collaborators.
It’s been confirmed that Michelle Keegan will be stepping back into Coben’s extended series universe, after a very triumphant lead role in Fool Me Once, which has generated over 130 million views globally since its launch in 2024.
Keegan will be starring in The Woods as Lucy Silverfield alongside Tom Bateman, who will be taking on the lead role as confused Paul ‘Cope’ Copeland. The pair will star as former lovers who reunite in order to try to get to the bottom of the mystery disappearance of Cope’s sister.
As per the synopsis for The Woods: “20 years ago, Paul ‘Cope’ Copeland’s sister Camille vanished from a summer camp in the woods, a loss that tore his family apart. Now a top barrister and devoted single father to ten-year-old daughter Cami, Cope appears to have rebuilt his life.
“But when the body of a man turns up – 20 years after he was supposedly murdered alongside Camille – Cope becomes convinced his sister may have made it out of the woods alive too. Determined to uncover the truth, Cope reunites with his first love, Lucy Silverfield, and together they begin a search for answers, unearthing years of lies, cover-ups, and family secrets that threaten to destroy everything he has built.”
Bateman is best known for his roles in Da Vinci’s Demons, Murder on the Orient Express and Death on the Nile, with more recent TV roles being in Sky’s Funny Woman and Peacock’s Based on a True Story.
As for Keegan, as well as having obviously helmed Fool Me Once alongside Joanna Lumley, she’s since starred in Brassic, Ten Pound Poms and is set to lead ITV crime drama The Blame.
In terms of the rest of the lead cast, it’s also been confirmed that Mandeep Dhillon (MobLand), James Buckley (The Inbetweeners) and Pearce Quigley (Small Prophets) will also be starring as characters Loren Muse, Lonnie Berger and Ira Silverfield respectively.
Having appeared in Run Away, Tracy-Ann Oberman will also return to the Coben TV series fold in a new role in The Woods, with it also being announced that comedian Tom Allen, Rade Sherbedgia (Slow Horses), Shannon Watson (The Jetty), Pamela Nomvete (Andor) and Roger Barclay (Industry) will also be starring.
The rest of The Woods cast includes Amelia Eve (Bly Manor), Kerry Howard (Witless), Simon Lowe (Kirkmoore), Dean Fagan (Time), Charlotte Beaumont (Broadchurch) and Christopher Harper (Call the Midwife).
While The Woods is based on Coben’s novel, Danny Brocklehurst will take on lead writing duties adapting the book for the screen, having previously worked together with Coben on the likes of Stay Close, Fool Me Once, The Stranger and Prime Video’s Lazarus.
On the announcement of the cast, Coben said in a statement: “The Woods is a haunting and very personal story. It has everything you expect from us — twisty, turning, gasp-inducing — but at the core is a story of old love and yearning. Working with a cast led by Tom Bateman, Michelle Keegan, Mandeep Dhillon, Pearce Quigley, James Buckley, Tom Allen – it’s an embarrassment of riches.”
Brocklehurst also said: “It’s a great pleasure to be working with Netflix on another twisty emotional thriller. And what a cast we have gathered. Reuniting with Michelle Keegan is a dream and to be working with huge talent like Tom Bateman, Pearce Quigley, Kerry Howard and James Buckley is a joy. We are very fortunate.”
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The Woods will be coming to Netflix.
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