Lazarus creator Harlan Coben's personal tragedy that inspired latest horror-thriller

Teaming up with Danny Brocklehurst once again, Harlan Coben reveals that a personal tragedy directly inspired their newest show Lazarus, starring Bill Nighy and Sam Claflin.

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Harlan Coben’s new horror-thriller series Lazarus is his most personal work to date – drawing on his own personal trauma. “I lost my father at a fairly young age,” he says, “I’ve dealt with it in a lot of stories but in this one, it’s directly.”

The six-part mystery due on Prime Video follows Dr Joel Lazarus, a forensic psychologist whose life crumbles after his father’s sudden death. Joel returns home to settle his affairs and finds a cryptic suicide note – only to be haunted by ghosts from the past.

Secrets quickly unravel and Joel is forced to confront the truth about his family. “When we lose somebody, we all have hope of, one day, seeing them again,” says Harlan Coben, 63. “That’s a lot of what the story really is.”

Bill Nighy stars as Doctor Lazarus, Joel’s enigmatic father and, for Harlan, the casting couldn’t have been more perfect. “This is the first time I ever specifically pictured someone while writing the story,” he says. “I specifically pictured Bill Nighy. We couldn’t imagine, not in our wildest dreams, that he would say yes. I screamed like a little baby.”

Joining Bill is Sam Claflin as Joel – a man grappling with grief and guilt – alongside Alexandra Roach as his sister Jenna and David Fynn as his best friend Seth. “We really got our dream cast,” Harlan says.

Behind the camera, Lazarus reunites Harlan with his long-time creative partner, screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst, and producer Nicola Shindler.

The trio, often joined by executive producer Richard Fee, have become one of TV’s top creative teams – responsible for hits such as Stay Close and The Stranger.

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“If Danny and I have discord, Nicola just tells us what to write,” Harlan jokes. “From day one, Danny and I just knew each other. We share a vision and put our egos aside. We just want it to be as good as it can be. We’ve become very good friends over the years.”

And Danny agrees, saying, “It’s been four of us since the very beginning, we all bounce off each other.” While Harlan drew inspiration from personal loss, Danny borrowed fragments from a different project. “I’d been developing a show in America, which didn’t get made. And it had a psychiatrist character in it,” he says.

But Lazarus isn’t your typical Harlan Coben thriller. For one, it flirts with the supernatural. Joel begins having conversations with dead people – including his late sister Sutton (Eloise Little), whose murder years earlier remains unsolved.

As the lines between reality and delusion blur, viewers are left wondering whether Joel is experiencing a breakdown or something paranormal.

“That’s the most significant difference to the thrillers we’ve done,” Danny says. “We talked about it a lot but it was so important we did it correctly. We weren’t entirely sure what was going in Joel’s head and wanted to take the viewer on that journey.”

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But don’t expect ghosts to fly through walls. “We wanted to do something grounded,” Harlan says. The show’s setting also breaks new ground for the Coben universe.

Instead of a family house at the centre of the drama, Lazarus unfolds inside a towering, almost gothic office building. “It’s like a nightmarish version of Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady ,” Harlan says. “We had a lot of talks before we built the set.”

Filming took place in Manchester and Liverpool, with director Wayne Che Yip at the helm. The process was surprisingly smooth – thanks in no small part to Bill Nighy’s charm. “Having someone like Bill on set elevated the mood for everybody,” Harlan says. “They were all great.”

But producer Nicola was amazed by lead actor Sam’s dedication. “He is such a hard worker,” she says. “He was in almost every single day except when he had to fly to the Emmys for Daisy Jones And The Six . He flew back the next day to Manchester and worked without complaint.”

Could Lazarus get a second chapter? “This is a complete story,” Harlan says. “We agreed from the beginning, you get all the answers by the end of the show. But do we leave a door open? Perhaps.”

Harlan Coben's Lazarus will premiere on October 22, 2025 on Prime Video.

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