Professor Robert Langdon has graced us with his lucious locks and symbol-cracking brilliance on the big-screen with THE DA VINCI CODE, ANGELS & DEMONS, and INFERNO, but Langdon's next adventure will take the Harvard professor to the small-screen.
Deadline has reported that NBC has given a production commitment to Langdon, a new drama which will be based upon Dan Brown's "The Lost Symbol," which was slated to be the third film before Sony Pictures moved forward with INFERNO instead. Daniel Cerone (Constantine) will be serving as writer and executive producer. Although "The Lost Symbol" technically takes place after "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons," the series is being envisioned as a prequel which will follow the "early adventures of famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, who finds himself pulled into a series of deadly puzzles when his mentor is kidnapped. The CIA forces him onto a task force where he uncovers a chilling conspiracy." In addition to Constantine, Daniel Cerone has also worked on Dexter, The Blacklist, The Mentalist, Motive, and Nightflyers.
A synopsis of "The Lost Symbol" via Amazon:
Famed Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon answers an unexpected summons to appear at the U.S. Capitol Building. His plans are interrupted when a disturbing object—artfully encoded with five symbols—is discovered in the building. Langdon recognizes in the find an ancient invitation into a lost world of esoteric, potentially dangerous wisdom.
When his mentor Peter Solomon—a long-standing Mason and beloved philanthropist—is kidnapped, Langdon realizes that the only way to save Solomon is to accept the mystical invitation and plunge headlong into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and one inconceivable truth . . . all under the watchful eye of Dan Brown's most terrifying villain to date. Set within the hidden chambers, tunnels, and temples of Washington, D.C., The Lost Symbol is an intelligent, lightning-paced story with surprises at every turn—one of Brown's most riveting novels.
I know the Robert Langdon movies get a lot of shit, but I consider them to be a few of my guilty pleasures, largely thanks to Tom Hanks' brilliant and absurd exposition dumps. Will I be down for more of the same without Hanks delivering them? I doubt it, but I suppose time will tell.