Lost Showrunner's New Netflix Series Can Save A Franchise

Published Oct 31, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT

El is a Junior TV Features Editor for ScreenRant, with previous experience as The Mary Sue's UK and Weekend Editor. She holds a Bachelor's in International Media and Entertainment Management, as well as an MA and Ph.D. in Creative Writing. There is little she loves more than discussing her favorite TV shows with fellow fans. One day, she hopes to publish an original fantasy novel.

Lost co-showrunner, executive producer, and writer Carlton Cuse's new Netflix series is a major franchise's last chance to prove itself. Cuse is one of the most influential people in Hollywood, a genre-blending pioneer whose most recent credits include not just Lost, but also the Psycho prequel Bates Motel, Guillermo del Toro's vampire drama The Strain, Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, and Netflix's three-season fantasy adventure Locke & Key. Now Cuse is back at Netflix, taking on one of his most daring and precarious projects yet.

Teaming up with bestselling author Dan Brown, Cuse is working to bring the world's favorite, foremost fictional Harvard symbology professor back to the small screen. Following Tom Hanks' portrayal of Robert Langdon in Ron Howard's film trilogy, which includes adaptations of The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno, and Peacock's Robert Langdon prequel series, The Lost Symbol starring Ashley Zukerman, this is a new (and possibly final) chance to save the Robert Langdon on-screen franchise.

Despite the success of 2006's The Da Vinci Code, which earned a stellar $800 million at the worldwide box office, each sequel earned significantly less. Angels & Demons earned $485 million, while Inferno halved that again, earning just $220 million. The Lost Symbol series was canceled after one 10-episode season with middling reviews; it earned an average 60% critics' score on Rotten Tomatoes and a dismal 47% audience score. Cuse's latest Robert Langdon attempt will have to recapture the audience's imagination, just as Brown's books still do.

Netflix Is Producing A Series Adaptation Of Dan Brown's The Secret Of Secrets

Credit: Doubleday

Cuse's new, as-yet untitled adaptation is based on Brown's latest Robert Langdon novel, The Secret of Secrets. This is a different kind of Langdon adventure. Though it's still set in a historic city — in this case, Prague, where the show is filming now — and Langdon can once again use his vast, obscure knowledge to save the day, the core mystery is more abstract and scientific. It blends science, religion, and mysticism, asking questions about human consciousness and what it means to communicate.

Scratch & Peek

Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.

The book also features a returning character in noetic scholar Katherine Solomon, first introduced in Brown's The Lost Symbol. Langdon and Solomon have a history; in The Secret of Secrets, they're even in a committed relationship. This gives Langdon's frantic search for her and her manuscript a new layer of emotional depth some of the character's other stories lacked. It's a new version of Langdon, and it's only fitting that a new actor should wear his iconic Mickey Mouse wristwatch.

This Is Robert Langdon's Best Chance To Thrive On The Small Screen

The Gilded Age's Morgan Spector has been cast to play Robert Langdon in Netflix and Cuse's upcoming series, alongside his real-life wife, Rebecca Hall, as Katherine Solomon. Those who've seen The Gilded Age will know Spector is a great choice to play Robert Langdon. He has real gravitas and a quiet, unassuming charm. His voice is clear and authoritative, exactly how Langdon should sound when speaking about his academic interests.

This is Robert Langdon's best chance to thrive on the small screen. The episodic format should work well with Brown's unique storytelling style. The author's chapters are famously short and end on a cliffhanger more often than not; a multi-episode season can keep that same narrative momentum while giving the mystery and the audience a chance to breathe. The movies were forced to move from scene to scene, clue to clue, without letting anything settle. The historical, symbolic, and religious clues are a major part of the books' appeal, after all. Langdon needs time to show what he can do.

Since the project is still technically untitled, Netflix may hope to turn it into an ongoing show, rather than a limited one-off. With Brown working alongside someone like Carlton Cuse, this new Robert Langdon series could be genuinely good and rekindle people's love for this surprisingly adventurous academic hero.

Robert Langdon