No Stranger to Netflix success
Fans of Harlan Coben’s 2015 best-selling novel The Stranger were reportedly hesitant about the thriller’s screen adaptation. Novel approach to new drama
But they along with countless others have been bingeing on the eight-episode Netflix drama since it first dropped a week ago.
There are a few key changes – including a location switch from the US to the UK – but the plot twists are no less gripping as the intriguing mystery unfolds.
Most of the scenes were shot in and around Manchester and in the north of England, including Stockport and Bolton.
Scenes involving the Price’s family home were filmed in the suburb of Didsbury in Manchester, where Coben’s earlier Netflix project Safe was also shot.
He explained: “We filmed all across Manchester. It’s a great place to shoot TV. There is some really incredible architecture that looks great on screen.”
Harlan acted as executive producer on the show and it’s not his first Netflix collaboration. He created two other crime miniseries with them – The Five and Safe.
He’s made a few changes including how The Stranger in the book is a white male named Chris Taylor whereas in the series the character is a biracial woman named Chrissy, played by Hannah Johnkamen.
Harlan watched more than 300 audition tapes but actors including Richard Armitage (Adam Price) and Siobhan Finneran (DS Johanna Griffin) did not have to screen test.
The story was inspired by reallife events as Harlan heard of a news story about a woman using a site to help fake a pregnancy. Adam’s estranged dad, Edgar (Anthony Head), has a bigger role in the series. In the book he died of a heart attack, but is alive to play the antagonist. Coben says he begged Jennifer Saunders to join the cast. He revealed: “I wrote to her and sent her the script and she said, ‘Yeah, this looks like fun. I’d love to do it’. This is her first dramatic role.” Devoted fans are already begging for a second series but Coben doesn’t really think it’s necessary. He said: “We’ll do a season two only if we can think of an idea that’s just as good for the characters, but I’m not going to hold something back or not give the full answer in season one.”