Apple TV+ has greenlit a TV adaptation of the late Philip Kerr's Berlin Noir books from Oscar-winning writer Peter Straughan (Conclave), producer Bad Wolf (Doctor Who); and Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman's Playtone, Deadline reported.
The untitled project is based on Kerr's final novel, Metropolis, which told detective Bernie Gunther's origin story, but "there is scope to adapt more Berlin Noir books via the studio's option," Deadline noted. Kerr's Berlin Noir trilogy includes March Violets, The Pale Criminal, and A German Requiem, all of which were published in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Kerr wrote 11 more Gunther books, finishing with Metropolis (2019) before his death in 2018.
Executive producers on the project will be Jane Tranter of Bad Wolf, Straughan, Hanks, Goetzman, Dan McCulloch and Ryan Rasmussen. Kerr's widow, the novelist Jane Thynne, owns the copyright for the Bernie Gunther novels.