Richard Armitage stars in Netflix’s new Harlan Coben thriller Fool Me Once

The trailer for Netflix’s latest thriller series, Fool Me Once, marks Richard Armitage’s third starring turn in a Harlan Coben adaptation – this time as a dead man (or is he?).

From the creators of The Stranger and Stay Close comes Netflix’s eighth Harlan Coben adaptation, which is based on the novelist’s bestselling book of the same name and set to premiere on New Year’s Day (1 January).

The two-minute trailer for Fool Me Once dropped on Thursday (7 December) featuring Obsession star Armitage, who revealed earlier this that he came out to “anybody who mattered” at the age of 19 while casually making reference to his male partner.

Fool Me Once also stars Michelle Keegan (Our Girl), gay icon Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) and Adeel Akhtar (Enola Holmes).

Gay Welsh actor Dino Fetscher – best known for roles queer shows such as Cucumber, Years and Years and Gentleman Jack – also features in the series.

As shown in the heart-pounding trailer, Fool Me Once follows ex-soldier Maya Stern (Keegan), who installs a nanny-cam in her home to keep an eye on her young daughter after witnessing the murder of her husband, Joe Burkett (Armitage).

But after her supposedly dead husband appears in the camera footage, the widowed mother is shaken to the core and embarks on a journey to discover whether Joe is truly still alive or is simply a grief-induced figment of her imagination.

“Detective Sergeant Sami Kierce (Adeel Akhtar) leads the homicide investigation into Joe’s death while grappling with secrets of his own,” the synopsis continues.

“Meanwhile, Maya’s niece and nephew, Abby and Daniel, are trying to find the truth about their mother’s murder, several months earlier. Are the two cases connected?”

Lumley stars as Joe’s devilishly suspicious and fiercely “protective” mother, Judith, while Fetscher plays Marty McGregor. As Maya’s life begins to unravel, she soon “uncovers a deadly conspiracy that stretches deep into the past”.

The eight-episode series was written by Danny Brocklehurst (Ten Pound Poms) and directed by David Moore (Outlander).

In a statement about the show, Coben described Fool Me Once as a “pulse pounder”.

He continued: “[It’s] a shocking story of how secrets and deceit have the power to bring people together while simultaneously tearing them apart. I can’t wait to see how this dream cast brings these characters to life.”

Fool Me Once airs on Netflix on 1 January, 2024.