J. K. Rowling’s presence on HBO continues after THE CASUAL VACANCY. But, then we announced that way back in a post on 12.17.15. CORMORAN STRIKE was announced as a BBC/HBO co-production after the successful run of the first work. Though the original timeline may be a little off it now appears Rowling’s return is a certainty.
From Deadline we learn the CORMORAN STRIKE limited series stars British actor Tom Burke (War and Peace, The Musketeers) star in what will be three separate event series, the three-hour The Cuckoo’s Calling, two-hour The Silkworm and two-hour Career Of Evil. Rowling, who wrote the three separate novels under the name Robert Galbraith, will executive produce.
Tom Burke plays Strike 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, his unique insight enables him to solve crimes others could not. Joining Burke is fellow Brit Holliday Grainger. She plays Robin Venetia Ellacott, Strike’s assistant and secretary. Every good detective needs one of those.
Wikipedia tells us:
In 2010, Cormoran Strike—private investigator, ex-SIB investigator and the illegitimate son of a famous rock star (by an affair with a notorious groupie) who lost part of a leg in a bombing in Afghanistan—is broke, and his birth father’s business agent is calling in the loan that he gave to Strike to open his office.
The first book is about how Strike is hired by John Bristow, the adopted brother of supermodel Lula Landry, who had fallen from her balcony three months previously. Bristow wants Strike to investigate his sister’s supposed suicide.
The second book is about how Strike is approached by Leonora Quine with a plea to locate her husband, the notorious writer Owen Quine, who has disappeared without a trace. Quine, once hailed as one of the original literary rebels—presented as the literary world’s version of music’s punk rock scene—has struggled for years to recreate the success of his original novel and has fallen out of public view. Strike discovers that his disappearance coincides with the leak of the manuscript for his latest novel.
The third book tells how a received package from a courier contains a woman’s severed right leg. Strike tells the police that he believes that the package had been sent by someone from his own past with a grudge against him.
This limited series will likely play out just like THE CASUAL VACANCY and be filmed exclusively in the U. K. and air there before it comes over to America and HBO. If it does as well as its predecessor CORMORAN STRIKE just might see J. K. Rowling continuing her relationship with the BBC/HBO partnership. Stay tuned.
