Prime Video’s Lazarus, Harlan Coben’s latest mind-melting miniseries, drops all six episodes on October 22, 2025—a psychological pulverizer that’s already primed to pulverize The Sinner‘s sins and Broadchurch‘s brooding, racking 1.8 million pre-premiere pre-orders and a 92% Rotten Tomatoes early buzz. Sam Claflin stars as Joel Lazarus, a forensic psychologist yanked back to his family home after his father’s apparent suicide, only to plunge into a vortex of visions, vendettas, and cold-case killings that claw open a 25-year-old sibling slaying. Bill Nighy haunts as the ghostly Dr. Jonathan Lazarus, his spectral snarls (“It’s not over”) a siren to Joel’s unraveling psyche, while Alexandra Roach’s Jenna Lazarus adds a sister’s shattered steel. “It’s twisted, tense, and terribly human,” Coben teases to Deadline, his original tale (co-written with Fool Me Once‘s Danny Brocklehurst) a “descent into secrets” where grief’s grip grapples with ghosts that demand reckoning. “More twisted than Broadchurch,” fans frenzy on X (2.5 million posts), “Sinner on steroids – Claflin’s cracking!”
The plot’s poison? Potent: Joel (Claflin, Peaky Blinders‘ Tommy Shelby’s heir) inherits his dad’s psychiatric practice, where a patient’s plea—”God’s punishing you”—unleashes unexplained echoes: Hallucinations of his murdered sister (25 years cold), cold cases cracking open like coffins, and a suicide note scrawled “Some sort of code.” Nighy’s Jonathan? A paternal phantom, his “disturbing experiences” dragging Joel into a labyrinth of lies—FBI feuds, family fractures, murders mirroring his own mayhem. “Father like son,” the tagline taunts, as Joel’s probe peels back paternal perversions and professional pitfalls, directed by Wayne Che Yip (Doctor Who) with a palette of pallid blues and blood-red flashbacks. Roach’s Jenna? A jagged jewel, her grief a grenade; David Fynn’s Seth McGovern a sly shrink; Karla Crome’s Bella Catton a bold ally; Kate Ashfield’s Detective Alison Brown a badge of betrayal.
Why the frenzy? Coben’s curse: His Netflix nukes (Fool Me Once, 37 million in 72 hours) primed the pump for this Prime pump—original idea, no novel tie, but the “mind-bending” machinery churns: Visions as villains, suicides as setups, cold cases as catnip. Claflin’s Joel? A “powerhouse” pivot from Daisy Jones‘ dazzle, his haunted hunches humanizing the horror; Nighy’s Jonathan a “screen legend” specter, his “sinister subtlety” a shiver. TV Insider hails the “gripping” gasp of “disturbing experiences,” Radio Times the “haunting atmosphere” that haunts harder than The Sinner‘s sins. Filmed in Manchester’s moody mills (February-July 2025), it’s a “must-watch” maelstrom, Quay Street’s Nicola Shindler exec-ing alongside Coben and Claflin.
This isn’t thriller tripe; it’s a trauma tango, Lazarus‘ descent a dagger to denial—suicide’s sting, secrets’ slash. Joel’s journey? Jarring. Jonathan’s ghost? Ghastly. October 22? Not a drop—a deluge. Binge it; the visions vex, the vendettas vanquish. Claflin and Nighy? No Broadchurch bummers—they’re bone-chilling beacons, unearthing unrest in a revelation that’s raw, riveting, revolutionary. Trust us: This obsession? Overnight.
