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Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol

Type: Drama
Length: 10 x 60 minutes
Producer: CBS Studios; Imagine TV; Universal TV
Broadcaster: Viaplay (Nordics)

‘There is an international texture to the plot – including a back story set in Turkey and the Middle East’

Dan Brown’s puzzle-solving symbologist Robert Langdon is arguably one of the most famous characters in modern fiction. The central figure in five best-selling novels, including The Da Vinci Code, has also been the focal point of three blockbuster feature film adaptations.

Now, CBS Studios, Imagine Television and Universal Television have brought Langdon to TV, in 10-part drama Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol. Launched in September on NBC Universal streamer Peacock, it is being presented to international buyers by ViacomCBS Global Distribution.

The TV series is based on the third Langdon novel – which has not been turned into a film. In an intriguing refresh, it reimagines Langdon as a younger man – starting out on a journey that will eventually transform him into the seasoned academic portrayed by Tom Hanks in the films.

Co-showrunner Dan Dworkin says the younger version of Langdon “is more brash, self-confident and sceptical than his older counterpart, but he is also encountering things he has never been exposed to before”. As a first-year professor at Harvard, “he is yet to confront the kind of zealotry evident in the movies”.

Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol

The novel is based in Washington DC, with Langdon sucked into a myth-based conspiracy. Dworkin’s writing/producing partner Jay Beattie says the series follows a similar line, “but the stories and characters have been extended to fill 10 hours of TV”.

The Lost Symbol is probably the most domestic of the Langdon stories, but Dworkin believes there is plenty to appeal to a global audience – with the ambition that it becomes a returning franchise.

Aside from the Dan Brown factor (200 million global book sales), there is a strong cast, Masonic references and fascination with the US political landscape. In addition, “there is an international texture to the plot – including a back story set in Turkey and the Middle East”, says Dworkin.

ViacomCBS’s early sales seem to bear out the show’s appeal. Deals include Showcase in Canada, Paramount+ Australia, Voot in India and more.tv in Russia.

Made for Love

Type: Drama
Length: 8 x 30-minutes
Producer: Paramount Television
Broadcaster: HBO Max (US)

Much of this HBO Max comedy-drama's strength is derived from the fact it is a product of Paramount Television, according to Lisa Kramer, president of international TV licensing at ViacomCBS Global Distribution Group.

Under the leadership of Nicole Clemens, who is mooted as the next scripted originals chief of Paramount+, the studio has a “track record of creating these absolute ground-breaking dramas and finding IP that is different”, Kramer says.

Based on the novel of the same name, Made For Love boasts an all-star cast including Cristin Milioti (How I Met Your Mother, Fargo), Billy Magnussen (Get Shorty) Noma Dumezweni (The Undoing) and Ray Romano (Get Shorty). The series is an darkly comic, cynical and poignant story of love and divorce set in a high-tech world.

30-something Hazel Green (Milioti) is on the run after 10 years in a suffocating marriage to controlling tech billionaire Byron Gogol (Magnussen). She quickly discovers her husband has implanted a monitoring device – the Made for Love chip – in her brain, allowing him to track her, watch her, and access her ‘emotional data’ as she tries to regain her independence. Through the chip, Byron's able to watch Hazel's every move as she flees to her desert hometown to take refuge with her ageing widower father Herbert (Romano).

Besides the comedic element, Kramer says the concept has enough believability to pose interesting questions over science, control, and relationships.

“The idea is super-timely and I love the execution,” she says. “Cristin is so funny and some of the moments are so hilarious, but underlying it is this really deeply disturbing premise.

“Even though it’s impossible, you occasionally think: is it? It's easy to wonder if there is a Byron Gogol out there trying to make that chip. It’s close enough to home to have resonance.”

As an SVoD commission, it is of “great interest to streamers” in the international market Kramer adds.

“We try not to bucket the content, but this has clearly got an edginess to it. It’s not necessarily for everybody, and we’re definitely leaning towards the streamers on this one. It just feels like it sits on those platforms.”

Your Honor

Type: Drama
Length: 10 x 60-minutes
Producer: CBS Studios in association with King Size Productions
Broadcaster: Showtime (US)

Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston headlines Showtime legal thriller Your Honor, which is adapted from hit Israeli TV series Kvodo.

Cranston plays a respected New Orleans judge whose teenage son is involved in a hit-and-run. Forced to cover up the crime to protect his son, he finds himself facing impossible choices when it’s revealed the person his son killed is the son of a much-feared head of a crime family.

Bafta winner Peter Moffat (Criminal Justice) is showrunner of Your Honor and also wrote several of the 10 episodes. Joining Moffat as executive producers are The Good Wife duo Robert and Michelle King, Liz Glotzer, and director Edward Berger, who also directed the first three episodes of the series.

The series is set to air on Sky in the UK through the pay-TV broadcaster’s output deal with Showtime. Similar Showtime output deals also see Your Honor air on Stan in Australia and Crave in Canada.