It is one of the runaway TV hits of the year – and Netflix is desperate to bring it back.
But the US giant faces a tricky problem as it seeks a second series of Fool Me Once – they killed off its star attraction Michelle Keegan at the crime thriller's climax.
An insider says writer Harlan Coben wishes he had written a more ambiguous ending and has quipped that he wants to compose a 'Harold from Neighbours' moment for Ms Keegan so he can bring back the former Coronation Street actress. She catapulted to wider fame on the back of the drama.
Like Dallas's Bobby Ewing coming back from the dead in the shower in the Eighties, Harold Bishop rose from a watery grave in the Australian soap opera in the Nineties.
Five years after he was feared lost at sea, it transpired he had in fact been saved by a passing trawler and taken to Tasmania. Conveniently, he had suffered amnesia, and so hadn't bothered to tell anyone.
Netflix is desperate to bring it back this year's hit drama Fool Me Once with its main character Maya Stern (right), played by Michelle Keegan
But the US giant faces a tricky problem as it killed off its star attraction Michelle at the crime thriller's climax
An insider says writer Harlan Coben wishes he had written a more ambiguous ending
Although a number of American writer Coben's novels have been made into Netflix dramas – and some set in Britain – the addition of Ms Keegan, 37, as the sultry main character Maya Stern in Fool Me Once helped make it one of Netflix's most popular series.
Now the former Our Girl star has found international fame and is tipped for Hollywood roles.
But her character's demise in Fool Me Once has left Coben 'kicking himself' and seeking a plot, no matter how far-fetched, that could see her reprise her role in the second instalment.
A source close to Ms Keegan said: 'Michelle and Harlan really bonded during the Fool Me Once filming and he thinks she's amazing. He believes Michelle is a big part of the show's stratospheric success.
'They were having a real heart to heart at the National Television Awards recently and Harlan was saying that he was absolutely gutted that he killed off her character and that he'd do anything to bring her back from the dead so that they can have a much-longed for sequel.'
According to the source, nothing is off the table and the pressure is on to get a sequel going. Coben, who has sold around 60million books, is preparing to release his next crime thriller novel, Nobody's Fool, in March 2025.
The source added: 'Fool Me Once is the sixth most watched show on Netflix and they are desperate to replicate its success. Harlan is now thinking about a spin-off show so that they can do a second season.
'Michelle is gutted too because it's made her a global name and her outfits from the show went viral, which helped her brand.'
A source close to Ms Keegan said Michelle and Harlan (right, also with Ms Keegan's on-screen husband, Richard Armitage) really bonded during the filming
The bingeworthy eight-parter won rave reviews. In it, Ms Keegan – who is married to TV reality star Mark Wright – plays a former soldier whose husband is murdered. The plot begins to unfold when she subsequently sees him on camera visiting their young daughter.
Fans on X, formerly Twitter, thought the storyline unlikely, but it was a ratings winner.
One said: 'Watching Fool Me Once. This is utterly ridiculous nonsense with Michelle Keegan and Joanna Lumley chewing scenery for their lives. Naturally I'm obsessed.' Another viewer said: 'Just got more ridiculous as it went on.'
The source said: 'The fact that Fool Me Once is, knowingly, a little bit bonkers, just makes it all the more likely that Michelle could find her way back.'
Netflix declined to comment and a spokesman for Coben said: 'We have nothing official to say on this at the moment.'
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