CANNES — “Code to Zero,” the thriller spy novel by best-selling author Ken Follett, has been optioned by Tandem Productions, which will produce it as a limited television series. Studiocanal is handling international sales.
In the show, a man wakes up to find himself lying on the ground in a railway station, his mind stripped of all memory. He has no idea how he got there; he does not even know his name. Slowly, he rediscovers his life by detective work, uncovering secrets of a conspiracy, set against the battle for global space supremacy between the U.S. and China.
Tandem previously produced two series based on the author’s novels: “The Pillars of the Earth,” starring Eddie Redmayne, Ian McShane and Donald Sutherland, and “World Without End,” starring Cynthia Nixon, Charlotte Riley and Miranda Richardson.
Follett burst into the book world in 1978 with “Eye of the Needle,” a taut thriller with a memorable female character in the central role. The book won the Edgar award and became a film starring Kate Nelligan and Donald Sutherland. “The Pillars of the Earth” has sold more than 25 million copies.
