Netflix‘s upcoming, high-stakes, thrilling adaptation of a best-selling novel is essentially Indiana Jones meets Jack Ryan, and it couldn’t come at a better time. As characters like Harrison Ford’s Indiana Jones and Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan have proven — whether on the page, in video games, on the small screen, or on the big screen, played by John Krasinski, Alec Baldwin, or even Ford himself — there’s something timeless about a seemingly everyday historian, professor, or desk-bound analyst becoming a globe-trotting, world-saving hero, hunting down historical artifacts or unraveling dangerous political conspiracies (sometimes, even both).
So far, Netflix has had plenty of success in the thriller genre, with shows like The Night Agent, Black Doves, Bodyguard, and The Diplomat all proving to be worthy additions. Still, Netflix has yet to find a lead as iconic as Indiana Jones, Jack Ryan, or even Prime Video’s Jack Reacher, a character so well-known and beloved that viewers are willing to tune in based on their name alone. That could be about to change, however, as Netflix dips its toes into the multi-million-selling adventurous and dangerous world created by author Dan Brown.
Currently filming on location in Prague, Netflix is set to bring one of Brown’s unadapted and most experimental novels to the small screen: The Secret of Secrets. It’s a gamble, but one that will hopefully pay off, with the series led by Dan Brown himself and visionary writer and producer Carlton Cuse, whose credits include Lost, Bates Motel, Locke & Key, and, as it so happens, Jack Ryan.
Netflix’s The Secret Of Secrets Will Feature Everyone’s Favorite Symbol Expert
Credit: Doubleday
Following the Tom Hanks-led Robert Langdon film trilogy, which adapted Brown’s novels The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons, and Inferno (the first of which earned an impressive $800 million at the worldwide box office on a budget of $125 million), Netflix is set to adapt Brown’s sixth and most recent Langdon-centric novel, The Secret of Secrets, in a currently untitled series. For over two decades, Langdon has been a fan-favorite character, a smart, surprisingly brave symbology professor who often finds himself wrapped up in dangerous, ancient, and politically charged schemes. He’s basically a modern-day Indiana Jones, minus the hat and whip.
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Squid Game shattered records on launch in 2021, becoming Netflix’s biggest-ever series debut. Hwang Dong-hyuk’s South Korean thriller centres on a desperate gambler named Seong Gi-hun. What is his player number?
✓ Correct! Gi-hun is Player 456 — the last number drawn. Kang Sae-byeok (the North Korean defector) is 067, Cho Sang-woo (the Stanford-educated finance crook) is 218, and the mysterious elderly Oh Il-nam is 001. Squid Game became Netflix’s first show to hit #1 in every country it launched in, amassing over 1.6 billion hours watched in its first month alone.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is 456. Gi-hun’s number is the very last of the 456 players. 067 is Sae-byeok the defector, 218 is Sang-woo the Stanford grad, and 001 is the mysterious old man Oh Il-nam whose identity becomes the series’ biggest reveal. Squid Game became Netflix’s most-watched launch ever, hitting #1 in 94 countries.
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The Tim Burton-directed Addams Family spin-off set at Nevermore Academy became Netflix’s second-biggest English-language debut in 2022 and launched a TikTok dance craze. Which young actress plays the deadpan title character?
✓ Correct! Jenna Ortega — a Disney Channel graduate and indie-horror favourite (X, Scream VI) — took the role Christina Ricci made iconic in the 1990s films and made it entirely her own. Her now-famous cello-accompanied dance scene became an overnight TikTok phenomenon, and her performance earned Wednesday two Emmy nominations despite airing mid-season.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Jenna Ortega. Millie Bobby Brown is Eleven on Stranger Things, Sadie Sink plays Max Mayfield (also Stranger Things), and Maya Hawke plays Robin. Ortega’s deadpan Wednesday Addams — and her viral cello-dance scene — turned the show into a global phenomenon in late 2022.
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In 2013, Netflix released a dark political thriller starring Kevin Spacey as a ruthless congressman breaking the fourth wall. It became the first major streaming original to land a Primetime Emmy nomination and effectively invented prestige streaming TV. Which show was it?
✓ Correct! House of Cards — adapted by Beau Willimon from the 1990 BBC series — became Netflix’s first prestige original and proved a streaming service could go toe-to-toe with HBO. Kevin Spacey’s Frank Underwood and his asides to camera defined early streaming TV. Orange Is the New Black followed months later in July 2013 and became Netflix’s longest-running original at the time.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is House of Cards (February 2013). Orange Is the New Black launched five months later (July 2013), Arrested Development’s Netflix revival came in May 2013, and Hemlock Grove was a horror effort the same spring. House of Cards was the flagship — the first streaming original to earn a Primetime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Drama Series.
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Peter Morgan’s The Crown famously recast its entire ensemble every two seasons to age the royal family. After Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth II in seasons 1-2, which Oscar-winning actress took the crown for seasons 3-4?
✓ Correct! Olivia Colman — fresh off her Best Actress Oscar for The Favourite — played the Queen across seasons 3 and 4, covering the late 1960s through the early Thatcher years. Imelda Staunton took over for seasons 5-6, Helena Bonham Carter played Princess Margaret in seasons 3-4, and Gillian Anderson stole the show as Margaret Thatcher in season 4.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Olivia Colman. Imelda Staunton took over for the final two seasons (5-6). Helena Bonham Carter played the chain-smoking Princess Margaret during seasons 3-4 alongside Colman. Gillian Anderson delivered an Emmy-winning Margaret Thatcher in season 4. Colman anchored the show’s middle era fresh off her 2019 Oscar win.
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The Duffer Brothers’ 1980s nostalgia juggernaut sees Eleven and the gang battle inter-dimensional horrors from a portal beneath the town’s Hawkins National Laboratory. In which fictional US town and state is the series set?
✓ Correct! Hawkins, Indiana — a fictional Midwestern small town that became one of TV’s most iconic settings. The Duffer Brothers chose Indiana for its unassuming, ordinary-America vibe, making the supernatural chaos feel more jarring. Derry is Stephen King’s It setting, Hill Valley is from Back to the Future, and Twin Peaks is David Lynch’s famous town.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Hawkins, Indiana. Derry, Maine is the fictional town from Stephen King’s It. Hill Valley is Marty McFly’s home in Back to the Future. Twin Peaks, Washington is David Lynch’s famous fictional town. Hawkins is The Duffer Brothers’ deliberately ordinary Midwestern setting — the flat, unassuming backdrop that makes Vecna’s horrors hit harder.
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Netflix’s Regency romance juggernaut — based on Julia Quinn’s novels and famous for its colour-blind casting, string-quartet pop covers, and narrated gossip column — is produced by which prolific showrunner’s production banner?
✓ Correct! Shonda Rhimes — the creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal — produces Bridgerton through her Shondaland banner as the first major fruit of her massive 2017 Netflix deal. Chris Van Dusen created the show, but Shondaland’s signature ensemble-romance DNA is all over it. Julian Fellowes did Downton Abbey, Ryan Murphy did Monster/Dahmer, and Jenji Kohan did Orange Is the New Black.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Shonda Rhimes (Shondaland). Ryan Murphy produces true-crime anthologies like Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. Julian Fellowes is the Downton Abbey/Gilded Age creator — a different period drama entirely. Jenji Kohan is behind Orange Is the New Black and Weeds. Bridgerton was the first big payoff of Rhimes’ nine-figure Netflix deal.
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La Casa de Papel (Money Heist) became a global phenomenon on Netflix after a modest Spanish TV debut — partly thanks to its gang’s instantly recognisable red jumpsuits paired with a mask of which famous figure?
✓ Correct! The Salvador Dalí mask — with its upturned moustache — became the show’s defining visual alongside the red jumpsuits, a nod to Spanish artistic rebellion and surrealist individuality. It inspired protest iconography worldwide, from Lebanon to France. The original Antena 3 version underperformed; Netflix acquired it in 2017, re-edited it, and turned it into a global sensation.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Salvador Dalí. Guy Fawkes is the V for Vendetta mask that Anonymous adopted. Che Guevara is a common revolutionary image but not the heist crew’s mask. Picasso is a frequent wrong answer given he’s the more globally-known Spanish artist — but the Dalí mask, with its iconic moustache, is the one fused forever with Money Heist’s red jumpsuits.
08
Netflix’s 2020 limited series about a Cold War-era chess prodigy named Beth Harmon caused a global surge in chess-set sales and was one of the streamer’s most-watched shows that year. Who played Beth?
✓ Correct! Anya Taylor-Joy — already a cult favourite from The Witch and Emma — broke out globally as Beth Harmon, winning the Golden Globe for Best Actress. The Queen’s Gambit pulled 62 million households in its first 28 days and caused such a chess-boom that Chess.com and retailers ran out of sets. It also made Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel a surprise bestseller almost 40 years later.
✗ Eliminated! The answer is Anya Taylor-Joy. Florence Pugh (Midsommar, Oppenheimer), Saoirse Ronan (Lady Bird), and Daisy Edgar-Jones (Normal People, Where the Crawdads Sing) are all frequent competitors in similar roles. Taylor-Joy’s Beth Harmon earned her a Golden Globe, a SAG Award, and turned Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel into a sudden bestseller.
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Brown’s sixth novel, The Secret of Secrets, follows Langdon as he travels to Prague with his current romantic partner and longtime friend, Katherine Solomon, herself a brilliant noetic scientist who also appeared in Brown’s third Robert Langdon novel, The Lost Symbol. The Secret of Secrets is one of Brown’s more futuristic stories, blending ancient religious symbolism and local history — Langdon needs a purpose in the story, of course — with complex philosophical and scientific musings about human intellect, what it means to be part of a shared consciousness, and our future as a species.
The show will star The Gilded Age‘s Morgan Spector as Langdon, and Rebecca Hall (Godzilla vs. Kong) will play Katherine Solomon. Though Langdon’s stories have done well enough as a trilogy on the big screen, the small screen format is actually perfect for Brown’s style. Each chapter is famously short and ends on a monumental cliffhanger, keeping readers hooked for hours and days. Netflix’s binge-watch model will work well for this; each episode could end on a similar cliffhanger, and viewers won’t even need to hit play to watch the next installment.
Robert Langdon’s Last TV Series Wasn’t A Huge Success
This won’t be the first time Robert Langdon appears in a TV series, however. In 2021, Peacock released The Lost Symbol, a prequel series to Tom Hanks’ tenure as Langdon. Unfortunately, the series, which was originally conceived as a pilot for NBC before moving over to Peacock for a full 10-episode season, didn’t last for more than one outing, despite solid performances by its leads: Ashley Zukerman, who played a young Robert Langdon; Eddie Izzard, who played Peter Solomon, Robert’s mentor; and Valorie Curry, who played Katherine Solomon.
The show earned a mere 60% critics’ score and a dismal 47% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes. It never quite reached the fast-paced heights of Brown’s best novels — in fact, it felt oddly slow for a show based on Langdon’s adventures — or made the story feel genuinely meaningful for the characters. Adaptations are always hard to crack, but sadly, The Lost Symbol fared worse than others, veering too far off course from the original story.
That doesn’t mean the same has to be true for Netflix’s upcoming Robert Langdon adaptation. With someone like Cuse at the helm, who has time and again proven his talent for crafting odd, mystical, ancient mysteries and leaving viewers in suspense, it might just be the perfect combination. Netflix may have finally found its very own iconic, unlikely action hero.
Netflix’s adaptation of The Secret of Secrets does not yet have a release date.
