David Ayer to write & direct Harlan Coben’s Six Years for Netflix

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Although David Ayer may not be directing the BRIGHT sequel, Deadline has reported that he's sticking with Netflix nonetheless to write, direct, and produce an adaptation of Harlan Coben's "Six Years."

Netflix acquired "Six Years" as a project for Ayer, which tells the story of Jake Fisher, a heart-broken college professor who watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years later, he reads that Natalie's husband has died, but when he attends the funeral, he discovers that the wife of the deceased man isn't the woman he fell in love with and becomes determined to find her and discover the truth. Although David Ayer isn't taking the helm of BRIGHT 2, he did co-write the script and will produce the film. Netflix has been talking with Louis Leterrier, best known for NOW YOU SEE ME, CLASH OF THE TITANS, and THE TRANSPORTER, with stepping into the director's chair.

A synopsis of "Six Years" via Amazon:

Six years have passed since Jake Fisher watched Natalie, the love of his life, marry another man. Six years of hiding a broken heart by throwing himself into his career as a college professor. Six years of keeping his promise to leave Natalie alone, and six years of tortured dreams of her life with her new husband, Todd. But six years haven’t come close to extinguishing his feelings, and when Jake comes across Todd’s obituary, he can’t keep himself away from the funeral. There he gets the glimpse of Todd’s wife he’s hoping for…but she is not Natalie. Whoever the mourning widow is, she’s been married to Todd for almost two decades, and with that fact, everything Jake thought he knew about the best time of his life – a time he has never gotten over – is turned completely inside out. As Jake searches for the truth, his picture-perfect memories of Natalie begin to unravel. Mutual friends of the couple either can’t be found or don’t remember Jake. No one has seen Natalie in years. Jake’s search for the woman who broke his heart, who lied to him, soon puts his very life at risk as it dawns on him that the man he has become may be based on a carefully constructed fiction.

David Ayer is currently in post-production on THE TAX COLLECTOR, a gritty urban street drama which stars Shia LaBeouf, and is also slated to write and direct a contemporary remake of THE DIRTY DOZEN.