Apple TV+ has greenlit a 10-episode crime drama based on the internationally bestselling Lars Kepler novels, locking in Liev Schreiber, Zazie Beetz, and Stephen Graham to lead the series. The untitled adaptation is being steered by Rowan Joffe and John Hlavin, with Tim Van Patten set to direct the first two episodes and executive produce.
Schreiber will play Jonah Lynn, a former soldier-turned-homicide detective looking for peace in rural Pennsylvania—but who instead finds himself up against Jurek Walter, a calculating killer played by Graham. Beetz takes on the role of FBI Agent Saga Bauer, Jonah’s adopted daughter, who’s forced to go head-to-head with Jurek in a high-stakes psychological game to recover his final missing victim.
The project puts Apple squarely in the Nordic noir lane, albeit filtered through a U.S. lens, with Kepler’s dark, layered thrillers reimagined in an American setting. Kepler is the shared pen name of Swedish authors Alexandra Coelho Ahndoril and Alexander Ahndoril, whose 10-book series has sold more than 18 million copies worldwide and been translated into 40 languages.
Production is slated to begin this summer in Pittsburgh. Schreiber and Beetz also board as executive producers alongside Joffe, Hlavin, and Van Patten, making this a high-profile package with significant streaming upside—especially for audiences who’ve been tracking the IP since the early days of Kepler’s literary ascent.
