Harlan Coben Teases More ‘Final Twist’ Screen Time & Batty New Cases in Season 2

Harlan Coben is one of the most prolific fiction writers working today — and that’s only half of his job. He also serves as executive producer on many adaptations of his works, particularly those at Netflix, and headlines his first non-fiction docuseries, Harlan Coben’s Final Twist, returning for its second season on Monday, October 5.

The series features real-life true-crime stories, complementing its raw footage and first-person testimonials with Coben’s own narration guiding the story.

Speaking to TV Insider, Coben talked about how Final Twist puts him in the spotlight, instead of at the keyboard, and how important that is to the structure of the series.

“I think in some ways I’m still finding my footing in [being on-camera] where I can add something and where I can’t. Part of what we tried doing is — there’s a little bit more of me this season, which is distressing … It’s one of those things I hope will make Final Twist different than some of the other true-crime shows is these are things that strike me as I’m watching. I think they strike you as a viewer, so we can almost sort of talk about it,” Coben explained of the timing of his on-camera interludes. “I’m like, ‘Well guys, let’s slow down. Let’s put something here… I think we should point this out to our viewers. And as a fiction writer, as a guy who’s done a lot of crime fiction, I didn’t know this actually happened, and I think we should recognize that here.”

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“Part of my job,” Coben continued, “is to help the story along, and also compare it to if I was writing this as a novel, how would it get handled versus how it gets handled?… I’ll be your companion throughout what’s going on with this case.”

In addition to being the series’ namesake and on-air talent, Coben is also an executive producer on the series and shed some light on what kinds of real-life cases he and the other creatives look for when deciding to showcase them in Final Twist.

“Well, first of all, I want variety. So I mean, the next case is absolutely completely different [from the last]. But I also love the aspect — and a lot of my books do this as well — we walk in the beginning and the end down cul-de-sacs, quiet roads, where life is sort of a placid pool, and that even a small pebble can cause a ripple,” Coben said. “We have a few cases here that I’m convinced would not have been solved had they not been a mother or a father who just would not let it go, and the mistakes that would have been made if that didn’t happen. Some of the cases take 15, 20 years to solve [thanks to] the strength and the resilience of the family.”

Most importantly, of course, is the fact that the chosen cases tend to be even stranger than fiction.

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“One of the things that fascinates me is that fiction has to follow certain rules. And when I tell a story using reality, you don’t because it’s more insane. I’m convinced that if this was a book, you would throw the book at me, or take the TV off the wall and whack me over the head with it if it was one of my Netflix series,” he said of the show’s cases. “That’s the thing that makes this show different. I think that I can say, ‘OK, your novel might have been done this way’… [but] this real. Yeah, you can stir the heart. You can stir the pulse. You can stir the mind. But I hope the show also stirs the heart.”

Harlan Coben’s Final Twist, Season 2 Premiere, October 5, 10/9c, CBS