Posted in: TV | Tagged: Cork O'Connor, mystery novels, Outlander, Outlander: Blood of My Blood, starz, tv, William Kent Krueger

Cork O'Connor Series in Development from Outlander Producers

Outlander producers have optioned the rights to the Cork O'Connor mystery novels by William Kent Krueger to develop into a TV series.

Two producers of Starz's forthcoming Outlander prequel are developing a Cork O'Connor detective series based on the Edgar Award-winning books by William Kent Krueger. The title character is a half-Irish, half-Ojibwe ex-sheriff turned private eye in Minnesota. There are currently nineteen books in the series with the twentieth due out in August 2024.  Story Mining & Supply Co., the production company founded by Jim Kohlberg and his partner Luke Parker Bowles, a former BAFTA East Coast chairman (and nephew of Britain's queen consort Camilla Parker Bowles), will executive produce the project along with the books' author Krueger. No network or streamer has been announced as attached yet.

"From the minute I cracked open Kent's first book, in much the same way as I did with Outlander, it was very clear that this series needed to be made," Kohlberg said. "Luke and I are beyond excited to get this project going and for the mass of Cork O'Connor fans to witness the brilliance of this series in action."

Krueger said, "I've been waiting 25 years for the right people to translate my Cork O'Connor mystery series to the screen. Jim Kohlberg and the folks at Story Mining and Supply Co. are the perfect fit. With my stories in their very capable hands, I couldn't be more excited about what the future may hold."

The Cork O'Connor novels are set in Aurora, Minnesota, and follow the private-eye hero as he navigates – what else? – a web of corruption and conspiracies while investigating murders and missing person cases, all while his personal and professional life unravels as all heroes of crime novels do these days. The first book was 1998's Iron Lake and the first season of the TV series might begin from that. It's a very far cry from Outlander.

"This is going to be a lot of fun," said Parker Bowles. "Kent consistently creates dramatic chess boards for Cork to traverse and, such as in the great game, you never really know where you are until the pieces fall."

Kohlberg and Parker Bowles are both executive producers of the forthcoming Outlander: Blood of My Blood, and Kohlberg is also an Executive Producer on the flagship series. Story Mining & Supply Co. has also produced the feature films Every Breath You Take and The Yellow Birds.

The final season of Outlander will premiere this year.

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