Variety reports today that CBS is making a mini-series out of "Robert Ludlum’s Covert One: The Hades
Factor," a book that was co-written by my friend Gayle Lynds. The four-hour miniseries will star
Mira Sorvino, Stephen Dorff and Anjelica Huston.
Larry Sanitsky ("The Last Don") and Paul Sandberg ("The Bourne Supremacy")
are aboard to exec produce the project, which will lense in Toronto, Paris and
Berlin. Project will be available for broadcast later this season, though CBS
has not yet determined an airdate.Elwood Reid ("Blind Justice") wrote the script for "Covert One: The Hades
Factor," adapting it from the 2000 novel by Ludlum and Gayle Lynds.Sanitsky and German producer Tandem announced plans for "Hades" in spring at
MIP, but no network, stars or helmer were attached (Daily Variety, April
12).Ludlum’s bestselling series of "Covert One" novels revolves around a secret
intelligence agency consisting of political and tech experts who fight
corruption and conspiracy, reporting directly to the U.S. president.Dorff will play Col. Jonathan Smith, a disease specialist and ex-agent of
Covert One whose fiancee has been killed by an Ebola-like virus spreading around
the world. When it turns out the virus may have been deliberately spread, the
president — played by Huston — orders a cover-up.Sorvino will play Rachel Russell, a Covert One agent who goes missing after
killing two men.Colm Meaney ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") will play a former spy and
friend of Smith’s, Blair Underwood ("LAX") the No. 2 official at Covert One.
Wahoo for Gayle! It couldn’t happen to a lovelier or more deserving gal! I only wish-as do countless others-that Dennis could have shared this with her.
I’m curious about how much work Ludlum put into the novel. I always have the feeling that when a brand-name author has a sidekick, the sidekick does all the work. True? And I’m not just saying this because Ludlum died in 2000 (which was sad; he inspired me a great deal, and I had hoped to meet him someday).
Robert Ludlum was involved in the concept for the Covert One series and had a hand in the development of the initial plots and characters. The books were actually written, though, by the co-authors. In my experience, that is generally how these arrangements work.