HBO to produce crime series based on Rowling novel

HBO and J.K Rowling are joining forces again. The pay-cable channel has acquired the US and Canadian rights to “Cormoran Strike”, the limited series based on the Harry Potter author's crime novels, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

“Cormoran Strike” centers on Strike (“War and Peace” star Tom Burke), a war veteran turned private detective operating out of a tiny office in London's Denmark Street. Though he's wounded both physically and psychologically, Strike's unique insight and his background as a Special Investigation Branch investigator prove crucial in solving three complex cases which have eluded the police.

“Cormoran Strike” will be broken up into three separate event series, starting with the three-hour installment “The Cuckoo's Calling”, followed by “The Silkworm” and “Career of Evil”, each of which will run two hours.

Michael Keillor will direct the first chapter. Rowling will executive produce through her banner, Brontë Film & TV, along with Neil Blair, Ruth Kenley-Letts and Elizabeth Kilgarriff.

The project was first announced by BBC One in fall 2015, and filming will begin this fall in London.

“Cormoran Strike” brings Rowling back to HBO, which also aired the miniseries adaptation of her novel “No Vacancy” in 2015 (also produced by BBC One).

Rowling published the “Cormoran Strike” novels under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith, beginning with “Cuckoo's Calling” in 2013 (she was not revealed as the author until three months after the book's release). The three books are best-sellers, with a fourth expected in 2017.

In addition to “Cormoran Strike”, Rowling is also busy with the “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them” film series, the first of which is set to hit theatres November 17.