Audiences were first introduced to Robert Langdon, a religious symbologist and Harvard professor, when director Ron Howard and actor Tom Hanks brought him to the screen in 2006’s The Da Vinci Code. The film was adapted from the book of the same name by author Dan Brown and several sequels were made, but the adaptation process strayed bit from the book series timeline of events. Deadline reports that the Langdon-universe will be twisted one more time to create a prequel series based off of the titular character. This newest iteration will make its debut on the silver screen, via NBC, as opposed to the big screen.
The television series has been announced as a project that is a part of NBC’s 2019-2020 development season. The show, currently dubbed Langdon, will most closely resemble the third book in Brown’s series, The Lost Symbol. Since the series is set to be a prequel that takes place before the events of The Da Vinci Code, there is some speculation as to who will play the titular character as it is unlikely that Hanks will be returning to the role. Howard, who directed all three previous films, has signed on as an executive producer. According to TVLine, Daniel Cerone (The Blacklist, Dexter) is listed as the show’s primary writer and executive producer.
All audiences know about the premise of the show so far is that the show will follow a young Langdon who finds himself practically coerced on to a CIA task force when his mentor is kidnapped. Along the way he is pulled into a myriad of deadly puzzles all while managing to expose a chilling conspiracy. Digital Spy notes that the tv series is not necessarily meant to be a reboot of the franchise. They also acknowledge that the book it will most closely mirror, The Lost Symbol, is about Langdon’s first major case.
Not taking into account the rest of the Langdon series, the singular book, The Da Vinci Code has sold between 50 and 100 million copies. In 2003, when it was first published, it was only outsold by Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The film series, which incorporates, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons, and Inferno has amassed more than $1.5 billion globally.