Fool Me Once writer teases spin-off after success of hit Netflix series

It was the mind-bending thriller that set millions of Netflix viewers' tongues wagging earlier this year, and apparently, we could be feasting our eyes upon an eagerly-awaited Fool Me Once spin-off sometime soon...

We were lucky enough to catch up with renowned mystery TV writer Charlotte Coben this week - the daughter of the show's award-winning author Harlan Coben - who spilled the beans on a future follow-up.

The 29-year-old writer and producer - who co-wrote the entire third episode of the Michelle Keegan hit - has spent recent months working on a brand new project of her own, however.

Despite having collaborated with her best-selling father, 62, on several Netflix mini-series now - including fan-favourites Stay Close and The Stranger - Charlotte has gone it alone for the very first time to create a comedy-thriller of her own, which will be landing on Amazon Prime later this week.

Titled Dead Hot, this six-parter sees Charlotte quite literally throw out the rule book when it comes to stomach-churning plot twists, high stakes and quirky characters.

Having watched two-and-a-half episodes at the time of writing this - and already itching to get home and watch the other four - I can only recommend you buckle your seat belts, because you're in for the most insane ride of your life.

Amazon Prime

The spine-tingling story - based entirely in Liverpool - follows hopeless romantic Elliott (played by Bilal Hasna), who takes the phrase 'unlucky in love' to the next-level when his boyfriend Peter completely disappears, leaving behind nothing but a severed finger...

Five years later, Elliott is still unable to let go of his trauma and teams up with his gal pal and Peter's twin sister Jess (Vivian Oparah) in the hope of FINALLY getting to the bottom of their mystery.

That is, until handsome yet mysterious stranger Will struts onto the scene, blowing Elliott's mind and throwing their plan off track.

But as 'ghosts from the past' start appearing, it looks as though he and Jess at the centre of a head-spinning plot against them.

Honestly, forget everything you thought you knew about psychological thrillers, and think Ghosts meets Skins meets Broadchurch meets It's A Sin meets Sex Education.

Amazon Prime

Delving into her inspiration behind Dead Hot - which lands on 1 March - Charlotte exclusively told Tyla this week that she'd based aspects of the story on her own life.

"My friends are the biggest inspiration," she admitted. "I watch these thriller shows and sometimes you see a character react in a way that's just not how me or my friends would have. They'd get on Instagram or Grindr to get to the bottom of a mystery!

"Like, I had a friend who was seeing a guy that wasn't texting her back, and to make her feel better, you're like, 'He's dead, he must be in jail, he's missing, it's not you!'. And I just ran with that."

Talking about the writing in her latest project, Charlotte went on to proclaim: "This is definitely more my voice. Those mystery shows that I've worked on are so fun to write but you have to take into account all the other voices of those involved, but Dead Hot just came to naturally to me."

Amazon Prime

And asked if she ran her latest independent work by her 'King of Plot Twists' father Harlan during the writing process, she tells us it would have been 'arrogant not to'.

"There's one final twist in Dead Hot that was his idea. I'll give him credit for that," she teases. "But yeah, I'd have him read drafts. I'd be foolish not to."

Speaking of being FOOLish (see what I did there?), we had to ask Charlotte about a potential sequel to Fool Me Once, which dropped onto Netflix on New Year's Day and has left fans speculating over a sequel ever since.

Admitting she's 'not quite sure' whether a certified follow-up could get the go-ahead, Charlotte went on to tell us: "But I know that there's some hope for maybe some kind of spin-off.

"But I don't know that for sure. Just talking hypothetically, but it would be very cool.

"There are a lot of characters in that show that it would be fun to see their stories unfold."

Charlotte isn't the only Fool Me Once contributor to have hinted at a spin-off series, however.

Netflix

Speaking to the Radio Times earlier this year, original creator Harlan himself admitted he 'loves the idea'.

"If Adeel wants to do it and we all want to do it, I would love to spin off and do something with Adeel again," he confessed. "He's an unusual talent and fun to work with. I love the dynamic between him and Dino as Marty.

"One of the things we want to do with these shows is to have a little fun, we're not trying to take ourselves that seriously, we want you to binge-watch it, enjoy it. "Right now, I think the world could use a bit of escapism and that's really what we're trying to do."

You heard it here first, folks. A spin-off could very well be in the pipeline, but until then, I'd recommend sinking your teeth into Dead Hot when it lands on Friday.

I guarantee, it'll blow your mind...

All six episodes of Dead Hot are available to watch on Prime Video in the UK & Ireland from 1 March.