J.K. Rowling’s Cormoran Strike Returns to TV in ‘Lethal White’

By Stewart Clarke

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Strike’s back. Tom Burke will return as private eye Cormoran Strike and Holliday Grainger as Robin Ellacott in “Lethal White,” the latest TV adaptation of the crime thriller novel series written by under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.

The “Lethal White” book has just been published in the U.K.; the television series will run to four parts on the BBC, which aired the previous three adaptations. Those ran on Cinemax and HBO in North America, but the U.S. partner for the new show has not been named.

What is confirmed is that “Lethal White” will feature a number of returning characters from the previous books and series, alongside several new faces.

The new story opens when a troubled young man, Billy, comes to Strike’s office to ask for help investigating a crime he thinks he witnessed as a child. Billy is mentally distressed and cannot remember many details, but for Strike there is something sincere about him and his story.

“Lethal White” follows “Strike – The Cuckoo’s Calling,” “Strike – The Silkworm,” and “Strike – Career of Evil,” all of which went out on flagship channel One in the U.K.

“J.K. Rowling, once more in the guise of Robert Galbraith, has delivered another brilliant, knotty and original crime story,” said BBC drama boss Piers Wenger. “We are honored to be working with Jo, and once more with Holliday and Tom as Robin and Strike, to bring this hit series back to BBC One.”

Rowling’s Brontë Film and TV is producing. The international distributor has not been confirmed. “Lethal White” has just been published in the U.K. by Little, Brown and is already a No. 1 bestseller.