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How Netflix’s Remake of an Action Thriller Classic Could Run for Five Seasons (And Get Its Answer to Reacher)
Netflix has done well in its original shows by bringing to life beloved comics and novels in live-action. Bridgerton, their beloved romance drama, hails from the Julia Quinn novel series, and The Witcher, their fantasy epic, brought Andrzej Sapkowski’s books to life. The list hardly ends there, though, and includes romance Virgin River (based on the novel series by Robyn Carr, which has 22 total books as of this writing), plus The Lincoln Lawyer, the upcoming adaptation of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House on the Prairie, and even the Enola Holmes movie series.
The latest hit Netflix series to find its origins in the pages of a novel is the action-thriller Man on Fire, starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II. Though perhaps best known to many for the 2004 version of the story starring Denzel Washington, the series is actually based on the 1980 novel by A. J. Quinnell. Netflix’s version of the story takes some major diversions from the original book, though, with the main throughline being the main character, Creasy (Marcus in the book, John in the series, just like the Denzel movie). That said, the blueprint for how Man on Fire could continue can be found on book shelves, as Man on Fire is just the first story. Potential spoilers for Man on Fire will follow.
Man on Fire Has a Blueprint for At Least Four More Seasons
Man on Fire, the novel, was first published in 1980, with no follow-up for over a decade. In the ’90s, though, Quinnell (the pen name for author Philip Nicholson) cranked out four more books starring his character, bringing the series to a total of five. The first book to arrive after was 1992’s The Perfect Kill, a book which saw Creasy on a revenge mission after a plane bombing kills his wife and child. In the story, he teams up with a Senator whose family was also on the plane in order to bring down the terrorists responsible. Given the changes to Creasy in Man on Fire, where he has no wife or child, this story might be hard to pull off in Season 2, but it could still happen.
A year after The Perfect Kill came The Blue Ring, with Creasy taking on a drug and prostitution cartel, followed by Black Horn in 1994, a globe-trotting adventure that sees Creasy going after killers in Zimbabwe and Hong Kong. Finally, the fifth book, Message From Hell, was published in 1996, and sees Creasy in the Cambodian jungle looking to rescue a US serviceman, but finding himself in the crosshairs of a woman out for revenge over the death of her father. Suffice to say, there are a slew of stories featuring John Creasy that can be adapted for future seasons of Man on Fire on Netflix. The best part about this, of course, is that none of these other books have ever been adapted, be it feature films or television.
The trouble, of course, is that Man on Fire‘s first season already set up its next story, with Creasy taking on the Mexican cartels that he battled in the opening of the show. That tease could very well be skirted over for a different story altogether, or wrapped up in the first episode of the next season, to then set up the larger narrative.
Man on Fire Could Give Netflix an Answer to Jack Reacher
One of the biggest success stories in the streaming era has been Prime Video’s Reacher, the adaptation of Lee Child’s long-running book series. To date, the show has already released three seasons, with a fourth on the way, and a spinoff series already happening as well. The show has proven to be a huge success, the kind tha other streamers are no doubt eager to try and replicate. The good news for Netflix is that Man on Fire could easily become that series for them, especially as their other comparable hit, The Night Agent, has already confirmed its ending with its next season.
As noted above, and like Reacher, Man on Fire has plenty of source material to pull from for its series. Even if the version of Creasy seen in the show differs from the one found in the original book, the bones and structure of the other stories could easily make their way onto Netflix if the creative team chooses to use them. That said, the idea of blazing an all-new path for the Creasy character might be too much for the series to resist, with even the star hoping to see a side of him that’s never been shown in live-action.
“I would like to see some flashes of the old Creasy before the incident,” Abdul-Mateen told Netflix’s Tudum. “I would like to see him more in his element in a charming type of way, because he’s definitely got that to him, but he also has this dangerous quality that I think is important for Creasy to keep.”
Man on Fire has proven to be a success for Netflix so far, with the show bringing in 11 million views in its first four days of release. It’s a matter of time before the streamer confirms the future for the show, and time will tell if they decide to keep adapting the books or bring their own stories to life.
