This time around, a younger (obviously) Langdon is still a respected symbolist, but does not have as much gravitas outside of academic circles.

The filmmakers, including director Dan Trachtenberg (“The Boys,” “10 Cloverfield”), wisely take Brown’s fourth book and use it as a template to start over. That’s something Hanks recognized, and it feels as if Zukerman does as well. However, for us geeks that surrender to the nerdy, dorky stuff without hesitation, he may as well be an icon. In fact, he doesn’t possess a lot of cool factor on the surface. Langdon was pretty much a low-key Indiana Jones, only nerdier and without the ability to crack a whip. That’s a long way of saying: Let’s see how this plays out.Īnd that’s more due to the fact that I liked - not loved - two of those movies for what they were. Three episodes don’t represent enough of a sample to allow formation of a completely informed opinion. In the three episodes made available by Peacock, I went from cognitive dissonance to not entirely caring who portrayed Langdon. While Zukerman may bring a “Hey, I know that dude vibe,” for some, he’s still a relative unknown with a couple of credits - “Designated Survivor” and “Succession” - sticking out. No one should envy Zukerman in that task.īut as long as we’re making comparisons, it’s an entirely different scenario in that with Jack Ryan, who’s been played by Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck and Chris Pine (did I miss anyone?), the actors had already developed a track record. That would be Ashley Zukerman filling the shoes of the legendary actor and character. Produced by the team behind the three Langdon films, it features all the hallmarks of that franchise from brain-teasing puzzles to breakneck pacing and Tom Hanks.

Apparently repurposing literary properties from the movie screen to the television screen - in these cases streamers - is the trendy thing to do.įollowing the lead of Amazon Prime Video, which partnered with John Krasinski and turned Jack Ryan, everyone’s favorite CIA analyst, into a hot limited series, Peacock, NBCUniversal’s streaming service, has done the same with Robert Langdon, the symbolist from “The Da Vinci Code” fame, in “The Lost Symbol.”

Peacock the lost symbol