Man on Fire Series Coming to Netflix

A Man on Fire TV series is in the works over at Netflix, after receiving a straight-to-series order by the streaming service, with eight episodes planned for the initial season. While fans are most familiar with the Man on Fire movie adaptation from 2004, this Netflix series will be based on the first two novels in author A.J. Quinnell’s John Creasy novels, “Man on Fire” and “The Perfect Kill”. 

Kyle Killen (Halo TV Series) and Scott Pennington of Chapter 11 Productions are attached to executive produce Man on Fire for Netflix, with Killen also writing the series. Additional executive producers include Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping, Bill McGoldrick, and Juan Alfonso for Chernin Entertainment, with  Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, and Michael Schaefer executive producing through New Regency Productions.

The logline for Netflix’s Man of Fire reveals that the series “tells the story of John Creasy, a broken ex-mercenary on a mission to avenge the death of his only friend while protecting his fallen comrade’s daughter from the forces that destroyed her family.”

Man on Fire has been adapted for the screen before – the most obvious example being Tony Scott’s 2004 film (also through New Regency Production)  which starred Denzel Washington and Dakota Fanning. While Man on Fire only did modest business at the box office ($130 million on a budget of $60-70 million), it was enough of a cult hit to help solidify Denzel Washington as an action star, sparking an entirely new era of his career with films like The Book of Eli, Safe House, The Magnificent Seven, 2 Guns and The Equalizer Trilogy balancing out his prestige film and stage play roles. 

A 1987 version of Man on Fire by director Élie Chouraqui featured actor Scott Glenn (Daredevil, Sucker Punch), Joe Pesci, Brooke Adams, Jonathan Pryce, Paul Shenar, and Danny Aiello. Both the Glenn and Washington versions of John Creasy were former CIA operatives-turned-bodyguards; the 1987 film kept more of the Italian themes and setting of Quinnell’s original novel, while the 2004 version moved things to a more modern setting of Mexico for its kidnapping plotline. It’s clear from the logline above that Netflix is taking a different approach to the story. 

Netflix’s recent record of big franchise property TV reboots has been hit-or-miss. While shows like Addams Family spinoff Wednesday take off, others like the Resident Evil TV series die off quickly, while even a big franchise like The Witcher divides fans. It will be interesting to see if Man on Fire can equal the success of, say, Amazon’s Reacher TV series. 

Source: Variety