Lazarus boss Harlan Coben 'screamed' when Bill Nighy agreed to star in Prime Video drama

WARNING: This article contains spoilers from Lazarus.

Lazarus co-creator Harlan Coben has confessed to shrieking "like a little baby" when Bill Nighy agreed to star in his newly released Prime Video thriller.

Psychiatrist Dr Jonathan Lazarus (portrayed by Bill Nighy) may perish by suicide within the opening 10 minutes of the drama Lazarus but he remains pivotal throughout the entire series.

His son Joel Lazarus (Sam Claflin) starts seeing ghosts whenever he enters Jonathan's surgery, all of whom are casualties of unresolved murder cases.

Joel is also frequently haunted by his father's ghost as well, prompting him to wonder why this is occurring and what lies behind all of their deaths.

When developing Lazarus alongside award-winning screenwriter Danny Brocklehurst, best-selling novelist Harlan Coben revealed he knew precisely who he wanted to portray Dr Lazarus from the outset.

Speaking to Screen Time, Coben shared: "This is the first time ever when I was writing a story, the novels and all of that, I actually pictured Bill Nighy as Dr Lazarus.

"I think none of us in our wildest luckiest dreams imagined that Bill would say yes and we sent the script and literally the next day, he called me on the phone and we talked about it and he wanted to do it.

"I screamed like a little baby from New Jersey and they heard me in Manchester, England, and we were all celebrating.

"We [also] have Sam Claflin and Alexandra Roach and David Fynn and all the rest.

"We really got everyone we wanted this time and we really got our dream cast."

Nighy is celebrated for his diverse acting career, with roles such as Billy Mack in Love Actually, Viktor in the Underworld series, Rufus Scrimgeour in the Harry Potter franchise and Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean.

He has also had significant roles in films like About Time, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and Shaun of the Dead.

According to the actor's IMDb page, he has a number of other projects lined up, including Shelter, an action thriller with Jason Statham and family drama California Avenue with Helena Bonham Carter.

Executive producer Nicola Shindler then chimed in: "I think for a while when we talked about Dr Laz as a character, we said 'A Bill Nighy', because it summed up what we wanted but we weren't expecting to get the Bill Nighy."

Lazarus is available to watch on Prime Video.